project report - ms vyas - tpddl - june 2010

Meenakshi S Vyas of 78

Report On

“Competency Mapping and Skill-Gap Analysis”

Submitted to –

Mr. S. K. Das, HoD (Training), TATA Power Delhi Distribution Limited

(Formerly NDPL)

Submitted By:

Meenakshi S Vyas June 2010


Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 3

OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................................ 6

CONCEPT OF COMPETENCY .......................................................................................... 9

COMPETENCY MAPPING – JOB and SKILL ANALYSIS ................................................ 18

CRITICAL REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 35

OVERVIEW AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF NDPL ...................................................... 40

STUDY OF TRAINING FUNCTION AT NDPL .................................................................. 49

METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 56

FINDING and ANALYSIS .................................................................................................. 66

CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 75


INTRODUCTION


In the modern competitive world, the business managers are required to improve the

efficiency and effectiveness of our business operations. As there are several factors that

affect efficiency and effectiveness of operations, the improvement is required to be carried

out in every factor. To improve synchronization between different elements of business is

an important approach to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the operations.

The basic elements of business are:

External Elements

Market

Public infrastructure, support facilities and services

Internal Strategic Elements

Technology

Plant and machinery

Internal Operational Elements

Management system

Materials

Technical manpower

Managerial manpower

These elements should be in synch with each other for effective operations. Mismatch

between any of the two elements give rise to wastages of time, money and efforts, leading

to loss of effectiveness and efficiency. Manpower, technical and managerial, is the most

important resource of any organization. This most important resource is also the most

difficult to manage as no two persons are similar. Every person has different qualities,

attitude, motives, personality traits, skills, knowledge etc. which has effect on their

performance at work. Organizations, in order to facilitate excellence in the performance of

the people in the organization, are required to identify the right person for every job. This

matching between jobs and people is an important avenue for organizational improvement

efforts. HR professionals are entrusted with the responsibility for selection, training and

development, administration, deployment support, performance appraisal and performance


diagnostics of the employees. The most important part of these responsibilities is

assessment of the individuals for their suitability for different functional tasks, and

development of their “competencies” and potential to be effective and excel in the assigned

tasks. Currently most of the organizations are using personal interview, written tests and

group discussion for the purpose of assessment. However these methods have been found

to have severe limitations.

Over last century many different approaches have been employed for the purpose of

assessment. These approaches were mostly based on personality tests/ psychometric tests.

These tests have improved assessment of candidates but still the reliability of the test results

is not adequate to forecast effectiveness of the selected candidate for the job. Research

conducted by Industrial and organizational psychologists have found that effectiveness of a

person to carry out a job depends not only single or isolated factors but on set of many

different factors. Such set of factors that help the possessor to be effective in a particular

job is termed as competency for that particular job. HR function entrusted with the

responsibility to find right person for every job and development of the employed person to

do the assigned job effectively, have found competency mapping and assessment as a very

effective tool.

The following pages give a very effective way of mapping competencies required for the

specific technician level workforce of a “Power Distribution Utility” and methods of assessing

the competencies of the people.


OBJECTIVE


One of the hallmarks of leading edge organizations, be they public or private has been the

successful identification of training needs and implementation of applicable and relevant

training programs. This is further linked to the application of performance measurement to

gain insight into the development of competencies, and make judgments about, the

organization and the effectiveness as well as efficiency of its programs, processes, and

people which further helps in building the organizational competencies. However, leading

organizations do not stop at the gathering and analysis of performance data; rather, they

use performance measurement to drive improvements and successfully translate strategy

into action in line with the desired competencies of the organization. In other words they use

competency development and measurement for managing their organizations. In this

context of employee competency development has gained importance. It basically refers to

the framework provided in an organization which measures, rewards and hence facilitate

the development of competencies of the employees and help better performance focusing

on organizational as well as individual growth.

A typical Power Distribution Company (DISCOM) of the city of Delhi is selected in this case

and the competencies are understood by studying the required competencies as per the

strategic and operational plan of the of the organization and the skills actually possessed by

the grass root level technician grade workers. This project is an attempt to understand the

various components as well as the dynamics at work in a in a small set of work group in

relation with the competency identification and development and then extrapolating the

same to take actions for a substantially larger set of work group. For the purpose, the

competency development, the training processes of NDPL have been studied. In the

changing business scenario, NDPL has been continuously trying to introduce changes as

well as adopt new methods and processes to ensure the sustainable growth of the

organization. One such effort has been the attempt to graduate to competency identification

and development from the existing training need identification concept. The prime/ major

objective of the project is to understand the current levels of competencies and to identify

the gaps, problems/ difficulties in the “competency assessment and skill gap analysis” as

part of the overall training structure of NDPL (One out of the 03 power distribution companies

operating in North and North West Delhi which is a joint venture of TATA Power and Delhi

Government).


NDPL consists to two cadres of employees i.e. one from who are inherited from the erstwhile

DVB and another who are directly recruited by NDPL after the privatization. Since both the

cadre of employees belong to separate system of measurement of their performance, hence

the project aims towards understanding about the current competencies of the technicians

at NDPL, explore the perception and degree of desired competencies of employees of both

the structures (DVB and NDPL new structure) with the present, obtain the final required

competencies of a select group of technicians of a mix of both erstwhile DVB and NDPL

structure. Main findings of the study are to find the impact of the training imparted to the

technicians based on the gaps identified in the required and the current levels of the skills

as part of the overall competency development of the worker cadre employees.


CONCEPT OF COMPETENCY


Definition

There are many different definitions for the competency; a simplest one among them is –

Competency for a job can be defined as a set of human attributes that enable an

employee to meet and exceed expectations of his internal as well as external

customers and stake holders.

It has been a general observation that hard work, sincerity, knowledge, intelligence alone

does not make a person star performer in his profession. There are other factors that help

an individual to excel in his job/ profession. All of us have noticed during our school days,

that the top scorer of a class is not always the most intelligent or the most hardworking

student of the class. We have also observed that top scorers from objective type of tests are

not able to hold their rank in descriptive type of tests. Similarly a good runner is not always

a good hockey player, as every game or sport needs different set of physical and mental

qualities to excel. Thus set of human qualities and/ or attributes that make a person a star

performer for a particular activity defines the competency for that particular activity.

Good managers are generally aware about different qualities a person must possess to do

a job effectively, and they make use of their knowledge to select and train their subordinates.

Organizational psychologists have studied and refined this understanding and converted it

into a structured and formal process thus making it available for business application.

In organizational and business context, competency required for a particular job depends

on many factors. The factors include social culture, nature of business, business

environment, organizational culture, work environment, organizational structure, duties and

responsibilities, nature of processes and assigned activities, attitude and motives of

colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Some of these factors may change with time, and

thus changing competency requirements for the same job position in the organization.

Competency for any job position at a particular time is a unique set and as organization has

many different job positions, managing many such sets is a difficult task. Hence for the

purpose of HR management, the job competency is divided into elemental competencies.

Elemental or Task competency


Elemental or task competency is an ability to do a particular type of task. A job consists of

many different types of tasks, thus requiring different elemental competencies. The

elemental competencies can be standardized, precisely differentiated, developed into a

model across the organization, and are easier to identify, study, understand, map, assess

and develop. Generally the competencies that we talk in HR are the elemental

competencies. Examples of elemental competencies are communication skills, business

skills, achievement orientation or drive, decision making, analytical skills etc.

Behavioral Indicators

The overall competency requirement for a job needs to be understood in terms of elemental

competencies which depend upon education, knowledge, training, experience, technical

and non technical skills, attitude, personal image etc. and some of these attributes are

difficult to objectively assess and measure.

However persons with high competency for a particular task demonstrate certain

logically associated behavior which can be used to identify the factors that make the

person highly competent for the task.

Behavioral indicator may be associated with different competencies. Hence presence of

complete set of behavioral indicators is indicative of the competency.

Another method to identify the elemental competencies required for a job is based on

analysis of the process and process activities assigned to the job. Both the methods have

their advantages and disadvantages, thus both the methods should be used for better

understanding of the competency requirements for the job.


Applications of Competency Mapping and Assessment Techniques

Competency mapping and assessment is a very important development for HR function. It

provides much needed objectivity to HR activities. With the help of tool like competency

mapping assessment role of HR and training has changed from support function to core

function. With competency based HR and training systems and programs HR/Training

function can directly contribute to organization effectiveness.

Business process focus and objectivity are the main advantages of the competency

based HR and training management systems.

Employee competency map is a very useful document following applications –

1. Candidate appraisal for recruitment

2. Employee potential appraisal for promotion or functional shift

3. Employee training need identification

4. Employee performance diagnostics

5. Employee self development initiatives

Candidate appraisal for recruitment

Selection of candidates for employment is very important decisions for any organization. A

wrong selection costs the organization in terms of recruitment costs, efforts, time and

opportunity. Whereas landing into unsuitable job is very painful and unsettling experience

for the candidate. Job position competency map provides clear guidelines and reliable

process for selection. Competency map for the job position and Assessment of candidate’s

for the required competencies gives comparatively reliable indication about suitability of the

candidate. The assessment also provides guidelines on the training needs for the candidate

if selected for the position.

Normally only core competencies are assessed for selection.


Employee potential appraisal for promotion or functional shift

Every job position requires different set of competency and hence an excellent performer in

junior position may not necessarily perform to the expectations when promoted to a senior

position. Also an average performer in a junior position may turn into a star performer when

promoted to senior position. Similarly a successful person in one department may turn out

to be unsatisfactory in another department and also a not so competent person in one

department may give excellent results in other department. Hence departmental shifts and

promotions need careful assessment of the competencies of the person with respect to the

required competencies of the new position.

It is recommended to assess core competencies for the promotion or functional shifts.

Employee training need identification

Competency mapping and assessment provides clear indication of employee’s

developmental needs. Candidate weakness with respect to the required competencies

discovered in the assessment shows opportunity for development of the candidate.

Employee competency assessment can be conducted periodically, preferably along with

performance appraisal, to identify developmental needs of every employee.

As competency based training need identification has direct relation with the employee

performance, effectiveness of training can directly be gauged through the assessment of

performance and competencies.

Generally core competencies are used for training need identification.

Employee performance diagnostics

Competency based assessment provides excellent understanding of performance

problems. Observed non performance of an employee can be due to factors that are out of

the control of the employee or due to lack of required competencies.

Employees those are not able to perform to the expectations should be assessed for core

as well as support competencies and any observed inadequacy should be carefully studied

to understand its effect before taking any remedial measures.


Employee self development initiatives

The competency map and behavioral indicators help individual to understand direction for

their own development. They can very easily identify the gaps and work on the

inadequacies. Performance appraisal with traditional method can assess the performance

with respect to set targets, but these appraisals do not guide for improving the performance.

Competency map very clearly and reliably guides the employees for self development. The

competency map indicates the competencies that are required for improved performance

and behavioral indicators shows the factors that build up the competency.

Organizations should develop a competency map document and make it available to all

employees for reference and study.


Understanding Job Positions

To map the competencies required for any job position in the organization, the job position

needs to be understood in the context of the business operation.

Business organizations are an important part of civil society. These organizations exist to

satisfy some social need. No organization can exist if it is not satisfying a social need. To

satisfy a social need organization has to carry out different types of tasks. Organizations

plan the activities and the responsibilities in such a way that similar type of activities requiring

similar resources and expertise are entrusted to the same employees or same group of

employees.

Apart from the tasks for carrying out the main business tasks, organization has to carry out

many other tasks to take care of it’s resources, culture, employees, social obligations,

governments requirements, shareholders expectations etc. Organization assigns all these

tasks to different employees and provides them support to carry out the tasks.

Hence every job position is a unique set of relationships, responsibilities, objectives and

assigned resources. Every job position should be clearly identified, analyzed, studied and

documented for identification of competencies associated with it.

Also for the purpose of analysis of the job positions, we have identified job factors which can

be used to study, analyze and understand the nature of the duties and responsibilities for

any job position. The job factors can be used for different applications including job design,

recruitment, training need identification, remuneration scheme design, organization

restructuring, competency mapping etc.

Job Factors

Job factors are distinctive characteristics of any job position which can be used to

understand nature of work activities and job responsibilities for the job position. These may

be listed as below –

Envisioning

Direction

Organizing and planning

Resources Mobilization

Coordination

Execution


Human Interaction

Technology

Creativity

Costs

Value addition

Envisioning

Whether developing vision is part of the job under study? What is the extent and coverage

of envisioning requirement? The vision may be related to market servicing, operating

arrangement, technology development, facility planning etc. Envisioning is requirement of

Leadership and Managerial roles.

Direction

Whether directing business operation or policy formulation is the responsibility of the job

under study? What is the extent and coverage of direction requirement?

Formulating policy direction is requirement of Leadership and Managerial roles.

Organizing and planning

Whether the job involves identification of human and/ or material resources and assigning

these recourses? Whether the job involves planning and scheduling usage of resources,

controlling and monitoring usage of these resources? What is the extent and coverage of

organizing and planning? This is requirement of Leadership and Managerial roles.

Resources Mobilization

Whether the job involves preparation of the resources for use? What is the extent and

coverage of resources mobilization responsibility for the job? This involves proper

instructions to be issued to all concerned, ensuring serviceability of the resources and

ensuring required consumables and inputs are available.


Coordination

Whether the job involves interaction with other executives to ensure synchronization of

activities for effective and efficient utilization of available resources? What is the extent of

coordination requirement of the job?

Execution

What are the execution activities of the job? What is the kind of skills required to execute

the activities.

Human Interaction

What is the nature and extent of human interaction in the job within the organization? What

is the nature and extent of human interact ion outside the organization?

Technology

What is the nature of technological responsibilities for the job? What kind of technical

decisions are required to be made in discharge of the job responsibilities?

Creativity

Does the job require generation of Implementable options as apart of responsibility? What

is the scope to novelty and innovation the job provides?

Costs

What is the cost of the job? How much organizational cost the job controls and influences?

Value addition

How much value does the job adds in relation with other jobs?


COMPETENCY MAPPING – JOB and

SKILL ANALYSIS


Job Analysis

Job analysis refers to the process of examining a job to identify its component parts and

circumstances in which it is performed. The critical concern for you as a job analyst should

be to treat jobs as units of organization. It acts as a tool which provides the information base

for a wide range of organizational and managerial functions. Job analysis consists of two

functions such as Job Description and Job Specification, which are closely related to each

other. Job description is a broad statement of the purpose, duties and responsibilities of a

job and job specification is a broad statement which specifies about the job holder, i.e.,

his/her qualification, experience required etc.

Competency Approach to Job Analysis

A skill is a task or activity required for competency on the job. Competency in a skill requires

knowledge, experience, attitude, and feedback. Performance assessment criteria clearly

define the acceptable level of competency for each skill required to perform the job. The

individual’s level of competency in each skill is measured against a performance standard

established by the organization. These competency skills are grouped according to a major

function of the occupation, and are presented in a two dimensional chart. Each skill has its

own set of “learning outcomes”, which must be mastered before a competency in the

particular skill is acknowledged.

Conceptually the competency based job analysis involves the following steps –

Identification of major job functions;

Identification of skills performed within each of the major job functions;

Generation of several drafts to be reviewed by employers and employees and

modified to accurately reflect the skills performed on the job;

Development of an occupational analysis chart. The chart is a two-dimensional

spreadsheet chart displaying the major job functions and skills; and

Identification of performance standards for each skill using a competency-based

rating scale which describes various levels of performance.


Uses of Competency Approach in an Organization

Competency approach is a foundation upon which to build a variety of human resource

development initiatives. This adaptable, flexible, and scalable tool has been used for the

following benefits to the organization –

provides a systematic approach to planning training

customizes training delivery to the individual or organization

evaluates suitability of training programs to promote job competence

provides employees with a detailed job description

develops job advertisements

helps in personnel selection

assists in performance appraisals

targets training to skills that require development

gives credit for prior knowledge and experience

focuses on performance improvement

promotes ongoing employee performance development

identifies employee readiness for promotion

guides career development of employees

develops modular training curriculum that can be clustered as needed

develops learning programes

Benefits of the Competency Approach

There are different approaches to competency analysis. While some competency studies

take months to complete and result in vague statements that have little relevance to people

in the organization but if done well they provide the following benefits to the organizations –

Increased productivity;

Improved work performance;

Training that is focused on organizational objectives;

Employees know up front what is expected of them;

Employees are empowered to become partners in their own performance

development; and

The approach builds trust between employees and managers


One of the strong points of this approach is that it requires interaction between the employer

and the employee. The job analysis is a catalyst to meaningful discussion of job performance

because the employer and employee have a common understanding of expectations. This

is due to the explicit nature of the competency statements pertaining to the job. The fact that

the employee conducts a self-appraisal of performance and the employer must confirm this

assessment requires a counseling type of interaction to take place. The growth plan requires

input from the employer and the employee for its development and follow-up.

Competency Mapping

Competency approach to job depends on competency mapping. Competency Mapping

is a process to identify key competencies for an organization and/or a job and incorporating

those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training,

recruitment) of the organization. A competency is defined as a behavior (i.e. communication,

leadership) rather than a skill or ability.

The steps involved in competency mapping are presented below –

Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete a position information

questionnaire (PIQ). This can be provided for incumbents to complete, or used as a

basis for conducting one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The primary

goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are the key behaviors necessary to

perform their respective jobs.

Using the results of the job analysis, a competency based job description is

developed. It is developed after carefully analyzing the input from the represented

group of incumbents and converting it to standard competencies.

With a competency based job description, mapping the competencies can be done.

The competencies of the respective job description become factors for assessment

on the performance evaluation. Using competencies will help to perform more

objective evaluations based on displayed or not displayed behaviors.

Taking the competency mapping one step further, one can use the results of one’s

evaluation to identify in what competencies individuals need additional development

or training. This will help in focusing on training needs required to achieve the goals


of the position and company and help the employees develop toward the ultimate

success of the organization.

Methods of Competency Mapping

However, a number of methods and approaches have been developed and successfully

tried out. These methods have helped managers to a large extent, to identify and reinforce

and/or develop these competencies both for the growth of the individual and the growth of

the organization. In the following section, some major approaches of competency mapping

have been presented.

1) Assessment Centre

“Assessment Centre” is a mechanism to identify the potential for growth. It is a procedure

(not location) that uses a variety of techniques to evaluate employees for manpower purpose

and decisions. It was initiated by American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1960 for

line personnel being considered for promotion to supervisory positions. An essential feature

of the assessment center is the use of situational test to observe specific job behavior. Since

it is with reference to a job, elements related to the job are simulated through a variety of

tests. The assessors observe the behavior and make independent evaluation of what they

have observed, which results in identifying strengths and weaknesses of the attributes being

studied.

It is, however, worth remembering that there is a large body of academic research which

suggests that the assessment centre is probably one of the most valid predictors of

performance in a job and, if correctly structured, is probably one of the fairest and most

objective means of gathering information upon which a selection decision can be based.

From the candidate’s perspective it is important to be natural and to be oneself when faced

with an assessment centre, remembering always that you can only be assessed on what

you have done and what the assessors can observe.

The International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) has identified the following

elements, essential for a process to be considered as assessment center –

A job analysis of relevant behavior to determine attributes skills, etc. for effective job

performance and what should be evaluated by assessment center.

Techniques used must be validated to assess the dimensions of skills and abilities.


Multiple assessment techniques must be used.

Assessment techniques must include job related simulations.

Multiple assessors must be used for each assessed.

Assessors must be thoroughly trained.

Behavioral observations by assessors must be classified into some meaningful and

relevant categories of attributes, skills and abilities, etc.

Systematic procedures should be used to record observations.

Assessors must prepare a report.

All information thus generated must be integrated either by discussion or application

of statistical techniques.

Data thus generated can become extremely useful in identifying employees with potential

for growth. Following are some of the benefits of the assessment center –

It helps in identifying early the supervisory/ managerial potential and gives sufficient

lead time for training before the person occupies the new position.

It helps in identifying the training and development needs.

Assessors who are generally senior managers in the organization find the training for

assessor as a relevant experience to know their organization a little better.

The assessment center exercise provides an opportunity for the organization to

review its HRM policies.

Assessment Centre is a complex process and requires investment in time. It should

safeguard itself from misunderstandings and deviations in its implementation. For this, the

following concerns should be ensured –

Assessment Centre for diagnosis is often converted as Assessment Centre for

prediction of long range potential.

The assessors’ judgment may reflect the perception of reality and not the reality itself.

One is not sure if the benefits outweigh the cost.

Assessment Centre comprises a number of exercises or simulations which have been

designed to replicate the tasks and demands of the job. These exercises or simulations will


have been designed in such a way that candidates can undertake them both singly and

together and they will be observed by assessors while they are doing the exercises.

The main types of exercises are presented below. Most organizations use a combination of

them to assess the strengths, weaknesses and potential of employees.

a) Group Discussions

In these, candidates are brought together as a committee or project team with one or a

number of items to make a recommendation on. Candidates may be assigned specific roles

to play in the group or it may be structured in such a way that all the candidates have the

same basic information. Group discussion allows them to exchange information and ideas

and gives them the experience of working in a team. In the work place, discussions enable

management to draw on the ideas and expertise of staff, and to acknowledge the staff as

valued members of a team.

Some advantages of group discussion are:

Ideas can be generated.

Ideas can be shared.

Ideas can be ‘tried out’.

Ideas can be responded to by others.

When the dynamics are right, groups provide a supportive and nurturing environment

for academic and professional endeavor.

Group discussion skills have many professional applications.

Working in groups is fun

A useful strategy for developing an effective group discussion is to identify task and

maintenance roles that members can take up. Following roles and the dialogue that might

accompany them in a group discussion have been identified.

(i) Positive Task Roles – These roles help in reaching the goals more effectively –

Initiator – Recommends novel ideas about the problem at hand, new ways to

approach the problem, or possible solutions not yet considered.

Information seeker – Emphasizes “getting the facts” by calling for background

information from others.


Information giver – Provides data for forming decisions, including facts that derive

from expertise.

Opinion seeker – Asks for more qualitative types of data, such as attitudes, values,

and feelings.

Opinion giver – Provides opinions, values, and feelings.

Clarifier – Gives additional information- examples, rephrasing, and applications

about points being made by others.

Summarizer – Provides a secretarial function.

(ii) Positive Maintenance Roles – These become particularly important as the discussion

develops and opposing points of view begin to emerge –

Social Supporter – Rewards others through agreement, warmth, and praise.

Harmonizer – Mediates conflicts among group members.

Tension Reliever – Informally points out the positive and negative aspects of the

group’s dynamics and calls for change, if necessary.

Energizer – Stimulates the group to continue working when the discussion flags.

Compromiser – Shifts her/his own position on an issue in order to reduce conflict in

the group.

Gatekeeper – Smoothes communication by setting up procedures and ensuring

equal participation from members.

During an effective group discussion each participant may take up a number of task and

maintenance roles to keep the discussion moving productively. In addition, there are a

number of negative roles which are often taken up in group discussion. They should be

avoided during group discussions. The discussion group may adopt the ground rule that

negative role behavior will be censured by members of the group. Described below are some

of the negative roles to be avoided –

Disgruntled non-participant – someone who does not contribute and whose

presence inhibits the participation of other group members.

Attacker – someone who acts aggressively by expressing disapproval of other

members and their contributions to the discussion.


Dominator – someone who takes control of the discussion by talking too much,

interrupting other members, or behaving in a patronizing way.

Clown – someone who ‘shows off’, refuses to take the discussion seriously, or

disrupts it with inappropriate humor.

b) In Tray

This type of exercise is normally undertaken by candidates individually. The materials

comprise a bundle of correspondence and the candidate is placed in the role of somebody,

generally, which assumed a new position or replaced their predecessor at short notice and

has been asked to deal with their accumulated correspondence. Generally the only evidence

that the assessors have to work with is the annotations which the candidates have made on

the articles of mail. It is important when undertaking such an exercise to make sure that the

items are not just dealt with, but are clearly marked on the items any thoughts that

candidates have about them or any other actions that they would wish to undertake.

c) Interview Simulations/Role Plays

In these exercises candidates meet individually with a role player or resource person. Their

brief is either to gather information to form a view and make a decision, or alternatively, to

engage in discussion with the resource person to come to a resolution on an aspect or issue

of dispute. Typically, candidates will be allowed 15 -30 minutes to prepare for such a meeting

and will be given a short, general brief on the objective of the meeting. Although the

assessment is made mainly on the conduct of the meeting itself, consideration are also be

given to preparatory notes.

d) Case Studies / Analysis Exercises

In this type of exercise the candidate is presented with the task of making a decision about

a particular business case. They are provided with a large amount of factual information

which is generally ambiguous and, in some cases, contradictory. Candidates generally work

independently on such an exercise and their recommendation or decision is usually to be

communicated in the form of a brief written report and/or a presentation made to the

assessors. As with the other exercises it is important with this kind of exercise to ensure that

their thought processes are clearly articulated and available for the scrutiny of the assessors.


Of paramount importance, if the brief requires a decision to be made, ensure that a decision

is made and articulated.

2) Critical Incidents Technique

It is difficult to define critical incident except to say that it can contribute to the growth and

decay of a system. Perhaps one way to understand the concept would be to examine what

it does. Despite numerous variations in procedures for gathering and analyzing critical

incidents researchers and practitioners agree the critical incidents technique can be

described as a set of procedures for systematically identifying behaviours that contribute to

success or failure of individuals or organisations in specific situations. First of all, a list of

good and bad on the job behaviour is prepared for each job. A few judges are asked to rate

how good and how bad is good and bad behaviour, respectively. Based on these ratings a

check-list of good and bad behavior is prepared.

The next task is to train supervisors in taking notes on critical incidents or outstanding

examples of success or failure of the subordinates in meeting the job requirements. The

incidents are immediately noted down by the supervisor as he observes them. Very often,

the employee concerned is also involved in discussions with his supervisor before the

incidents are recorded, particularly when an unfavourable incident is being recorded, thus

facilitating the employee to come out with his side of the story.

The objective of immediately recording the critical incidents is to improve the supervisor’s

ability as an observer and also to reduce the common tendency to rely on recall and hence

attendant distortions in the incidents. Thus, a balance-sheet for each employee is generated

which can be used at the end of the year to see how well the employee has performed.

Besides being objective a definite advantage of this technique is that it identifies areas where

counseling may be useful.

In real world of task performance, users are perhaps in the best position to recognize critical

incidents caused by usability problems and design flaws in the user interface. Critical

incident identification is arguably the single most important kind of information associated

with task performance in usability -oriented context.

Following are the criteria for a successful use of critical incident technique –

Data are centered on real critical incidents that occur during a task performance.


Tasks are performed by real users.

Users are located in their normal working environment.

Data are captured in normal task situations, not contrived laboratory settings.

Users self report their own critical incidents after they have happened.

No direct interaction takes place between user and evaluator during the description

of the incident(s).

Quality data can be captured at low cost to the user.

Critical Incidents Technique is useful for obtaining in-depth data about a particular role or

set of tasks. It is extremely useful to obtain detailed feedback on a design option. It involves

the following three steps

Step 1) Gathering facts – The methodology usually employed through an open-ended

questionnaire, gathering retrospective data. The events should have happened fairly

recently: the longer the time period between the events and their gathering, the greater the

danger that the users may reply with imagined stereotypical responses. Interviews can also

be used, but these must be handled with extreme care not to bias the user.

There are two kinds of approaches to gather information –

1) Unstructured approach – where the individual is asked to write down two good things and

two bad things that happened when one was carrying out an activity.

2) Moderate structured approach – where the individual is asked to respond to following

questions relating to what happened when he/she was carrying out an activity.

What lead up to the situation?

What was done that was especially effective or non- effective?

What was the result( outcome)?

Step 2) Content analysis – Second step consists of identifying the contents or themes

represented by the clusters of incidents and conducting “retranslation” exercises during

which the analyst or other respondents sort the incidents into content dimensions or

categories. These steps help to identify incidents that are judged to represent dimensions

of the behaviour being considered. This can be done using a simple spreadsheet. Every

item is entered as a separate incident to start with, and then each of the incidents is compiled

into categories. Category membership is marked as identical, quite similar and could be

similar. This continues until each item is assigned to a category on at least a “quite similar”


basis. Each category is then given a name and the numbers of the responses in the category

are counted. These are in turn converted into percentages (of total number of responses)

and a report is formulated.

Step 3) Creating feedback – It is important to consider that both positive and negative

feedback be provided. The poor features should be arranged in order of frequency, using

the number of responses per category. Same should be done with the good features. At this

point it is necessary to go back to the software and examine the circumstances that led up

to each category of critical incident. Identify what aspect of the interface was responsible for

the incident. Sometimes one finds that there are not one, but several aspects of an

interaction that lead to a critical incident; it is their conjunction together that makes it critical

and it would be an error to focus on one salient aspect.

Some of the advantages of critical incident technique are presented below –

Some of the human errors that are unconsciously committed can be traced and

rectified by these methods. For example, a case study on pilots obtained detailed

factual information about pilot error experiences in reading and interpreting aircraft

instruments from people not trained in the critical incident technique (i.e., eyewitness

or the pilot who made the error)

Users with no background in software engineering or human computer interaction,

and with the barest minimum of training in critical incident identification, can identify,

report, and rate the severity level of their own critical incidents. This result is important

because successful use of the reported critical incident method depends on the ability

of typical users to recognize and report critical incidents effectively.

Some of the disadvantages of critical incidents method are presented below –

It focuses on critical incidents therefore routine incidents will not be reported. It is

therefore poor as a tool for routine task analysis.

Respondents may still reply with stereotypes, not actual events. Using more structure

in the form improves this but not always.

Success of the user reported critical incident method depends on the ability of typical

end users to recognize and report critical incidents effectively, but there is no reason

to believe that all users have this ability naturally.

3) Interview Techniques


Almost every organisation uses an interview in some shape or form, as part of competency

mapping. Enormous amounts of research have been conducted into interviews and

numerous books have been written on the subject. There are, however, a few general

guidelines, the observation of which should aid the use of an interview for competency

mapping.

The interview consists of interaction between interviewer and applicant. If handled properly,

it can be a powerful technique in achieving accurate information and getting access to

material otherwise unavailable. If the interview is not handled carefully, it can be a source

of bias, restricting or distorting the flow of communication.

Since the interview is one of the most commonly used personal contact methods, great care

has to be taken before, during and after the interview.

Following steps are suggested –

Before the actual interviews begin, the critical areas in which questions will be asked

must be identified for judging ability and skills. It is advisable to write down these

critical areas, define them with examples, and form a scale to rate responses. If there

is more than one interviewer, some practice and mock interviews will help calibrate

variations in individual interviewers’ ratings.

The second step is to scrutinize the information provided to identify skills, incidents

and experiences in the career of the candidate, which may answer questions raised

around the critical areas. This procedure will make interviews less removed from

reality and the applicant will be more comfortable because the discussion will focus

on his experiences.

An interview is a face-to-face situation. The applicant is “on guard” and careful to

present the best face possible. At the same time he is tense, nervous and possibly

frightened. Therefore, during the interview, tact and sensitivity can be very useful.

The interviewer can get a better response if he creates a sense of ease and

informality and hence uncover clues to the interviewee’s motivation, attitudes,

feelings, temperament, etc., which are otherwise difficult to comprehend.

The fundamental step is establishing “rapport”, putting the interviewee at ease;

conveying the impression that the interview is a conversation between two friends,

and not a confrontation of employer and employee. One way to achieve this is by


initially asking questions not directly related to the job, which is, chatting casually

about the weather, journey and so on.

Once the interviewee is put at ease the interviewer starts asking questions, or seeking

information related to the job. Here again it is extremely important to lead up to

complex questions gradually. Asking a difficult, complex question in the beginning

can affect subsequent interaction, particularly if the interviewee is not able to answer

the question. Thus it is advisable for the pattern to follow the simple-to-complex

sequence.

Showing surprise or disapproval of speech, clothes, or answers to questions can also

inhibit the candidate. The interviewee is over-sensitive to such reactions. Hence, an

effort to try and understand the interviewee’s point of view and orientation can go a

long way in getting to know the applicant.

Leading questions should be avoided because they give the impression that the

interviewer is seeking certain kinds of answers. This may create a conflict in the

interviewee, if he has strong views on the subject. Nor should the interviewer allow

the interview to get out of hand. He should be alert and check the interviewee if he

tries to lead the discussion in areas where he feels extremely competent, if it is likely

to stray from relevant areas.

The interviewer should be prepared with precise questions, and not take too much

time in framing them.

Once this phase is over, the interviewers should discuss the interviewee, identify areas of

agreement and disagreement, and make a tentative decision about the candidate. It will be

helpful if, in addition to rating the applicant, interviewers made short notes on their

impression of candidates’ behavior responses; which can then be discussed later.

If the interview is to continue for many days, an evaluation of the day’s work, content of

questions and general pattern of response should be made for possible mid-course

correction. In addition, a large number of methods have been developed to measure and

map competencies. Most of them are of recent origin and are designed to identify those

skills, attitudes and knowledge that are suited most for specific jobs.


4) Questionnaires

Questionnaires are written lists of questions that users fill out questionnaire and return. You

begin by formulating questions about your product based on the type of information you

want to know. The questionnaire sources below provide more information on designing

effective questions. This technique can be used at any stage of development, depending on

the questions that are asked in the questionnaire. Often, questionnaires are used after

products are shipped to assess customer satisfaction with the product. Such questionnaires

often identify usability issues that should have been caught in-house before the product was

released to the market.

a) Common Metric Questionnaire (CMQ) – They examine some of the competencies to work

performance and have five sections: Background, Contacts with People, Decision Making,

Physical and Mechanical Activities, and Work Setting. The background section asks 41

general questions about work requirements such as travel, seasonality, and license

requirements. The Contacts with People section asks 62 questions targeting level of

supervision, degree of internal and external contacts, and meeting requirements. The 80

Decision Making items in the CMQ focus on relevant occupational knowledge and skill,

language and sensory requirements, and managerial and business decision making. The

Physical and Mechanical Activities section contains 53 items about physical activities and

equipment, machinery, and tools. Work Setting contains 47 items that focus on

environmental conditions and other job characteristics. The CMQ is a relatively new

instrument.

b) Functional Job Analysis – The most recent version of Functional Job Analysis uses seven

scales to describe what workers do in jobs. These are – Things, Data, People, Worker

Instructions, Reasoning, Maths, and Language. Each scale has several levels that are

anchored with specific behavioral statements and illustrative tasks and are used to collect

job information.

c) Multipurpose Occupational System Analysis Inventory (MOSAIC) – In this method each

job analysis inventory collects data from the office of personnel management system

through a variety of descriptors. Two major descriptors in each questionnaire are tasks and

competencies. Tasks are rated on importance and competencies are rated on several

scales including importance and requirements for performing the task. This is mostly used

for US government jobs.


d) Occupational Analysis Inventory – It contains 617 “work elements.” designed to yield more

specific job information while still capturing work requirements for virtually all occupations.

The major categories of items are five-fold: Information Received, Mental Activities, Work

Behavior, Work Goals, and Work Context. Respondents rate each job element on one of

four rating scales: part-of-job, extent, applicability, or a special scale designed for the

element. Afterwards, the matching is done between competencies and work requirements.

e) Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) – It is a structured job analysis instrument to

measure job characteristics and relate them to human characteristics. It consists of 195 job

elements that represent in a comprehensive manner the domain of human behavior involved

in work activities.

These items fall into following five categories –

Information input (where and how the worker gets information),

Mental processes (reasoning and other processes that workers use),

Work output (physical activities and tools used on the job),

Relationships with other persons, and

Job context (the physical and social contexts of work).

f) Work Profiling System (WPS) – It is designed to help employers accomplish human

resource functions. The competency approach is designed to yield reports targeted toward

various human resource functions such as individual development planning, employee

selection, and job description. There are three versions of the WPS tied to types of

occupations: managerial, service, and technical occupations. It contains a structured

questionnaire which measures ability and personality attributes.

5) Psychometric Tests

Many organizations use some form of psychometric assessment as a part of their selection

process. For some people this is a prospect about which there is a natural and

understandable wariness of the unknown.

A psychometric test is a standardized objective measure of a sample of behavior. It is

standardized because the procedure of administering the test, the environment in which the

test is taken, and the method of calculating individual scores are uniformly applied. It is

objective because a good test measures the individual differences in an unbiased scientific

method without the interference of human factors. Most of these tests are time bound and


have a correct answer. A person’s score is calculated on the basis of correct answers. Most

tests could be classified in two broad categories:

a) Aptitude Tests – They refer to the potentiality that a person has to profit from training. It

predicts how well a person would be able to perform after training and not what he has done

in the past. They are developed to identify individuals with special inclinations in given

abilities. Hence they cover more concrete, clearly defined or practical abilities like

mechanical aptitude, clinical aptitude and artistic aptitude etc.

b) Achievement Tests – These tests measure the level of proficiency that a person has been

able to achieve. They measure what a person has done. Most of these tests measure such

things as language usage, arithmetic computation and reasoning etc. An effective manager

is one who is able to assign jobs to the correct personnel, which requires perfect job

analysis. Job analysis is also useful to make decisions relating to organisational planning

and design, recruitment and selection of personnel, their training, appraisal and

development and other managerial functions. For all these to happen smoothly there is a

requirement of competency approach to job analysis.


CRITICAL REVIEW


Training and HRD Aspects

Training and development in organizations is a strategic activity made necessary largely

because of the dynamic nature of the environment in which organizations exist and function,

as well as by the changes that occur in its human resources. Both the organization and its

members must develop new skills over time to remain competitive.

For the organization, this means that such basic concerns as growth, performance,

productivity and planning are reflected in training needs analysis, program and course

evaluation, and the management of the training function.

For the individual in the organization, basic needs relating to personal growth, career

development, promotion and advancement, job satisfaction and quality of work life are

viewed largely as the responsibility and domain of the training and development department.

Accommodating the needs and demands of the organization and the individuals through

well-conceived, articulated designed and administered training programs is the unique

juggling act performed by the HRD professional.

As organizations develop into learning organization, this has a profound impact on the

relationship between work and learning. Whereas learning used to be primarily equaled to

training, it now becomes predominantly associated with learning from experience, and self

directed learning. Looking at objectives it can be said that most HRD functions in the

organization, by supporting the company in realizing business objectives. For instance by

ensuring that the workforce has necessary competencies, in trying to realize this strategic

contribution, HRD functions not only provide training, but also seek to provide opportunities

for (informal) employee learning in general (with knowledge sharing as an explicit form).

Both managers and employee fulfill an active role. HRD professionals themselves appear

to fulfill both a strategic and a practical role. Their strategic role can be seen as an effort to

link training closely to the business. The responsibility of managers can be seen in the same

light, by actively helping employees in analyzing learning needs and agreeing upon learning

activities. HRD is becoming ever more integrated within the business. This integration

process appears to take place both with regard to policy-making (HRD policy linked more

closely to and eventually integrated in general strategy),and with regard to the execution of

HRD activities (from being performed by HRD department, to a shared responsibility of

HRD professionals, managers and employees). All in all, it can be concluded that training is


still an important to note is that HRD professionals not only provide opportunities for learning,

but also deliberately also try to change attitudes to change attitudes to learning.

First, it seems very crucial that employees are motivated for learning. f they are not, this

imposes a serious inhibiting factor to realizing the new work practices. if individual

employees do not see the importance of learning, they will not take an opportunities. An

important aspect with regards to motivation is an appreciation of more informal ways of

learning and development, and a sense of responsibility for their own learning. This means

a considerable shift from the traditional views employees hold on learning. That is by

adopting different HRD practices but also by targeted HRD interventions and work methods.

Second, a trend of decentralization is found managers more and more expected of them to

perform assessments and needs analysis, work on development plans for their staff,

motivate employees for learning. In the long run, it would be interesting to consider

incorporating HRD skills in all management-training programs, if HRD is truly to become an

integrated part of business. This will decrease the gap found between wishes and ideas

from managers and activities from HRD professionals.

Third, as the HRD function is changing their practices, their own role changes considerably.

Instead of trainers, they now become consultants, who also have to manage the link

between their activities and company strategy. It seems that reputation of the HRD

department and its credibility are of great influence for the role of HRD in developing towards

aligning organization.


Importance of Training

When a person working feverishly and while he/she is working if we ask him like-“what are

you doing?’ ’He/she will reply impatiently. And if that person is working continuously for 5

hours we will ask him to take a break of few minutes he/she denies. He/she says

emphatically that too busy and have to finish his work today itself.

Although it is not fair that most people are capable of doing things reasonably well, it is true

that very few people are naturally good at things they need to do. In order words of business

and management it is never assumed that people are able to do things such as those that

student groups need to- yet it is all the decision of the running organization.

Perhaps one of the main reasons that people don’t seek out training is that it is a commitment

time with no straight forward. Yet a day spent in training at the start of the year will greatly

reduce the amount of work group members will need to do the rest of the year because

people who really know what they are doing always find it much quicker and easier to do

things than who don’t so it is a little bit like taking to sharpen the saw before cutting down a

tree. Ultimately, training saves your time.

Group leader ought to take it upon them to work out what training the people need to achieve

their jobs, and make sure that they receive this training. This will include in promoting the

culture of training within the group, and leading by example by being trained.

The perception that the external training is irreverent deserves a 2nd thought in view of

increasing competition passed by the global market place and the recession. Today’s

globalize economy has led to organization responses which include drives for quality,

technological changes and organizational restructuring, which has been he trigger for

seeking most cost effective training.

While internal training such as in house courses and programs on the job training, mentoring

and open learning are still popular among the Malaysian countries, traditional external

training have received criticism from many companies for its theoretical and academic

approach. For example, unrealistic and impractical examples are use to illustrate the

program not related to the actual simulation in the work place. Some courses are believed

to be irrelevant as they are not tailored according to the employee and the job needs.

Hence, it is the needs for cost effective training which has cost the shift away from traditional

training over past recent years. Cost effective training is usually work related and practical


by nature. Ideally, cost effective training enhances the trainee’s motivation and

understanding increasing their productivity and efficiency at work with a minimum training

project.

As the managers increasingly see work related training to be of importance, budget

conscious companies are also aware of problems that the training is conducted by external

trainings are too expensive while the course provided are in sensitive to companies and

training needs. Some also find external training disruptive and creating problems rather than

solving them.

External training providers should carefully identify the individual company’s needs for

training and respond to this different need accordingly. After identifying the needs and

problem the training providers should related the course contents the trainees work by

providing information and hands on approach to the trainees.

Managers can request for the external training providers to develop courses where the

theory types to external training providers to develop courses where the theory types to

relevant practical examples, and with trainers going out of the workplace as much as

possible .In short, training needs of employees must be identified and must not be assumed

in order to achieve cost effectiveness for the company.


OVERVIEW AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF

NDPL


Introduction

North Delhi Power Limited incorporated on 1 July 2002 is a joint venture of TATA Power and

GoNCTD (TATA Power - 49%, TATA Sons – 2%, GoNCTD - 49%) and is one of the few

private power distribution utilities in India, in an otherwise Govt. owned industry. Delhi

became the second state after Orissa to unleash Reforms in the Power Sector, which

resulted in the unbundling of Delhi Vidyut Board into 5 entities – 3 Discoms (NDPL, BYPL

and BRPL), GENCO and TRANSCO (DTL). This was institutionalized through a Transfer

Scheme, which was preceded by a Tripartite Agreement (TPA) between employee

representatives, GoNCTD and DVB. The stakes in Discoms were offered to private players

through a competitive bidding process on the basis of their commitment to reduce ATandC

Losses over the transition period of 5 years (2002-07).

Distribution of Power across a geographic spread of 510 sq. km with a consumer base of

10.35 Lakh and a population of approximately 50 Lakh. NDPL’s daily average energy

requirement is about 16 to 18 MUs and Annual Energy Input of around 6,000 MUs (about

28% of Delhi’s input) with Turnover of about Rs 2,400 Crores. ATandC Losses have reduced

by 50% as compared to the loss levels at the time of take over. (53% in Jul 02 to 18% in

Dec 09). 26% of Revenue contribution from Xpresss (>500 kW) and KCG (>100 kW)

consumers which includes sensitive loads such as DMRC, Hospitals, Hotels, Shopping

NDPL

BSES

Rajdhani

BSES

Yamuna

NDMCMES

Joint Venture of TATA Group with Delhi Govt.

51:49%


Malls etc. A team comprising of approximately 3,700 dedicated and committed members. In

a short period of just about 7 years, NDPL’s performance has been acknowledged and

bestowed with national and international recognitions.

NDPL arranges Input Power from various Generators

G1

G2

G3

TRANSCO – High Voltage Transmission Lines

TRANSCO – 220/66 kV Grid Station (G/Stn.)

NDPL – 66/11 kV G/ Stn.

SPD – CGHS (HCB Consumers) NDPL – 11kV/ 220 V DT

NDPL – 66/11 kV G/Stn

NDPL – 66/33 kV G/Stn

NDPL –11kV/ 220

V NDPL –11kV/ 440

V

NDPL – 11kV / 440 V

NDPL – 33/11 kV G/Stn.

NDPL – 11kV/ 220 V Distribution Transformer

JJ Clusters LT ABC Network

HCB Consumers KCG Consumer

HRB Consumers

The power supply to each consumer is metered and a bill is raised for the units consumed. The difference between the Units Input from Transco and the Units Collected through Revenue Collection from consumers is the ATandC Loss.

DERC determines the Tariff, sets the guidelines for Performance standards and ensures compliance.


Organization

NDPL distributes power to more than 1 million consumer premises in its license area of

power distribution, i.e. North and North-west Delhi

Attribute Status

Turnover (FY 07-08) Rs. 2,445 Cr

Peak Load 1,100 MW

Energy Requirement (FY 07-08) 6,281 MU

Total Registered Consumers 1 Million

Number of Employees 3,800

Area of Distribution 510 Sq Kms

Population Serviced (approx) 4.5 Million

Per Capita Consumption (Units) 1,395 (National Avg of 500, Mumbai ≈

850)

Number of Consumers / Sqkm 1,960 (Only Registered)

Employees / MU input 0.6

Load / Energy Growth 07% / 05%

Vision Statement – “To be the most trusted and admired provider of reliable and

competitive Power to People we serve and to be company of choice to work for”

Mission Statement –

To deliver Quality and cost effective power

To ensure excellence in consumer care

To create a work environment which encourages safety, team work, learning and

innovation

To meet or exceed all stakeholder expectations

To enrich quality of life in the society we operate in

Core Values – NDPL is a value driven organization and these values continue to direct the

company’s growth and business. The five core values underpinning the way we do business

are

Integrity – We must conduct our business fairly, with honesty and transparency.

Everything we do must stand the test of public scrutiny


Understanding – We must be caring, show respect, compassion and humanity for

our colleagues and customers and always work for the benefit of the communities we

serve

Excellence – We must constantly strive to achieve the highest possible standards in

our day to day work and in the quality of goods and services we provide

Unity – We must work cohesively with our colleagues across the group and with our

customers and partners to build strong relationships based on tolerance

understanding and mutual co-operation

Responsibility – We must continue to be responsible and sensitive to the

communities and environments in which we work always ensuring that what comes

from the people goes back to the people many times over

Challenges

NDPL faced the challenge of bringing about the desired changes in different spheres

of organizational working.

DVB was the largest exclusive urban utility in India at the time of transition but had made

little investment in infrastructure for the last two to three years. NDPL made a Rs. 12.5 billion

capital expenditure plan for five years and Rs. 2.5 billion annually for running expenses

Some of the key challenges that NDPL faced since the takeover are –

Dealing with rampant theft by slum dwellers as well as industrial/commercial consumers

Improving the sub-standard and dilapidated distribution network system

Reducing the ATandC losses within a period of five years from 53 per cent during the

takeover to 20 per cent after a period of five years

Improving system reliability so as to be comparable with the best utilities in India

Changing the consumer perception of NDPL

Promoting consumer service and IT interface at a level comparable with world standards

Managing the nexus between the vested interests who were responsible for power theft

Securing more comprehensive information on its assets


Decreasing restoration periods to acceptable levels

Internalizing in the company’s culture a concept of consumer priority and service

Changing the mindsets of a neglected and semi-trained workforce

Enhancing role clarity to the employees so as to increase the quality of performance

Imbibing transparent and ethical working in all administrative centres and among the

employees of the company

Establishing the TATA brand image in terms of the standards of the TATA Business

Excellence Model (TBEM)

HR Environment and Evolution

The attempts to establish the HR environment at NDPL was started from July 2002 and the

main focus of the same became the introduction of “Performance Management” at

organizational, departmental, group and individual level along with necessary “Information

Sharing” with all the work / user groups.

Some of the salient features that sets the HR environment are as follows –

Salary being transferred through electronic clearance to the respective bank

accounts of the employees directly; every employee got his pay on the last day of the

month

HR Information system for employee leaves, salary slips, LTA, Medical allowances,

tax deductions etc. was made available through an interactive HRIS application which

later on was replaced with more robust and proven ERP of SAP

Performance monitoring of the basic entity of Power Distribution of the organization,

that is, Zones was started which as of date expands to all the groups / departments

as part of a structured Management Information System

Manpower deployment is done based upon the function of the department and the

shifts etc. are allocated in a well defined structure with prime focus on proper

manpower utilization

Service conditions of all the NDPL employees are linked to the performance

incentives as part of the core Organization and HR strategy as already explained in

the previous section


Regular interaction forums for all the employees is created for 2-way communication

with the senior management as follows –

o Joint Interaction Forums (Periodic interaction involving the field level staff

including union representatives)

o Voice of Employees (To address all the concerns of the employees pertaining

to HR)

o Open House Sessions (2-way communication with Senior Management for all

middle managers)

o SAMVAD (Group/department wise 2-way communication with Senior

Management for all the members of the “Line Functions”)

The grievances could even relate to issues like promotion, posting, error in pay-slip,

administration-related issues, and other personnel matters

NDPL is having an incentive scheme to promote performance-based culture for

employees who successfully achieved their targets

A distinct Reward and Recognition (RandR) scheme is in place with a view to

recognizing ingenuities and promoting talent

Sports meet are organized for employees to improve the engagement level of the

employees

Union management is the main focus of the Top Management wherein the

assimilation approach is a priority and regular reviews and meetings are conducted

through “Industrial Welfare Group” of HR function

HR Evaluation is primarily done through the Balanced Score Card which incorporates

the “Performance Management” aspect of all the HR Objectives and the achievement

Month on Month is measured and reviewed

Progress of identified strategic initiatives is monitored and new initiatives are

identified to improve the performance in certain areas

Several schemes/policy such as Vehicle Policy, Ethics Management etc. are

deployed for focus on employee facilitation

Mentor – Protégé relationship is an official affair but the same is in initial stages of

deployment and maturity, nevertheless the initiatives has resulted in the improvement

of employees


Some of the policies such as Laptop policies are only the ones that are aimed at

creating the work-life integration for the employees

HR planning/Manpower Planning is done as per the organizational strategy and the

recruitment time cycle and rate of attrition are measured and improved based upon

the BSC strategic objective

Knowledge management and other HR initiatives are part of creating the employee

engagement at all levels

Training and Development

The prime focus of NDPL since beginning has been the training and development of the

employees. Being a Power Distribution Utility and having to deal with state of the art and

latest technologies, the operating staff has to be current with the knowledge as well as, with

the due course of time, develop the expertise through continual improvement.

Some of the systems existing at NDPL are as follows –

Training policy has been drawn in line with the “National Training Policy” and the

training of 2 mandays at workmen level and 6 mandays at officer level is made

mandatory across the year

The initial training need identification was done through an exhaustive exercise

wherein each and every group was interviewed and their requirement was mapped

with the organizational needs

Function and level wise training needs were collated and final needs were collated

for each level and as applicable to the individuals

Based upon the training needs thus identified training modules were created and a

full fledged training calendar was put in place

“Centre for Efficiency in Power Distribution (CENPEID)” was established as a

premium training centre in association with “United States Agency for International

Development (USAID)” and Ministry of Power, Union Government of India as a

facilitator to impart the training to the employees of all the players of Power Sector

viz. other utilities and State Electricity Boards (SEBs)

Internal experts are trained to become trainers/faculties for the training programs

conducted in-house or outside as well, thereby reducing the overall cost of training


and at the same time helping the organization in “Asset Sweating (proper utilization

of manpower)” and also earning revenue apart from the core business

All such internal faculties are recognized once a year based upon their contribution

and are felicitated at a function by the CEO of NDPL

The robust system of Training Calendar has paved the way to identify the process of

capturing the training needs though the “Performance Appraisal System) itself,

wherein the employees express their training requirements in their appraisal forms

which are then mapped with the functional needs

All needs thus captured and mapped are finalized and the training calendar for the

next year as well as the list of candidates are prepared handy and informed in

advance so as to prevent the wastage of resources for training and avoid the drop

outs as well

Training evaluation is done scientifically through feedback form, follow-ups and

regular interactions with respective Team Leaders


STUDY OF TRAINING FUNCTION AT NDPL


History

The Government of India has taken up ambitious program for new capacity addition

to the tune of 100,000 MW in the power sector by the year 2012. However,

traditional problems like - lack of commercial orientation, excessive Aggregate

Technical and Commercial (ATandC) losses, virtually no or very poor maintenance

of network, unplanned growth, overloading, inadequate tariff policy and lack of

training facility have been ailing the power sector for long.

The technician cadre which comprises of 60% of total work force and is the back

bone of distribution utility has been performing their duties based on the knowledge

gained through their experience and observing their seniors/peers. Similarly, for

the supervisory cadre, very little importance is given towards training with a view

to fulfill the requirement of National Training Policy for the Power Sector.

At the heart of the distribution problem is the critica l need for sustained training

and capacity building at all levels ranging from the management of the State

Electricity Boards (SEB)/Distribution Companies (DISCOM) all the way to the

technicians, foremen and linesmen at the consumer end of the spectrum and

administrative and accounting personnel. While sporadic training has been

provided by SEB's/DISCOMs but power distribution training as a culture has not

been established.

In order to meet the ever increasing challenges in the Power Distribution sector in

the wake of reforms and to fully equip and prepare our employees properly to

address the changed market scenario, NDPL has started a full -fledged Training

Center in the name of Center for Power Efficiency in Distribution (CENPEID) in

January 2005.

CENPEID has created its own identity in the field of training not only in India but

in abroad also. Prior to setting up of CENPEID, realizing the importance and the

need of the Training, NDPL had laid great emphasis on this aspect and started

imparting training ever since August 2002 from our Human Resources

Development Institute (HRDI) operating from Rohini, North Delhi.

Vision Statements of CENPEID


Vision – "To be a Center of Excellence in providing training, sharing knowledge,

conducting research and providing a forum for Policy Advocacy in Power

Distribution in partnership with National and International stakeholders."

Mission –

Design and deliver high quality and targeted technical training to

familiarize utility personnel with technical systems, equipment and

processes in power distribution chain.

Institute best practices and certified programs to enhance supervisory

and management capabilities and capacity within NDPL and across the

utilities in India and abroad.

Institute Applied Research Activities and provide Policy Inputs to national

and state governments Develop national and international partnerships,

provide study tours and facilitate internships to enhance Distribution

Efficiency Practices.

Objectives –

To make learning and knowledge sharing as one of the fundamental

values within the company and across the sector

Familiarize all personnel with existing and new technology in the Power

Distribution sector

To build competency in employees and thereby add to the resource pool

of the sector as a whole


Training Activities

The target groups for various trainings at CENPEID –

Executives, Supervisors, Technicians, Office Associates, Security personnel,

Drivers, Paramedical Staff Members, Assistant Line (Wo)Men/Peons, Business

Associates’ ' Employees, etc.

Emphasis is given on “Hands on training” and “Opportunity to work and get trained

on actual model network”

The Training Track Record of CENPEID as shown below –

Faculty – CENPEID has a team of 11 trainers in technical, soft skills and IT area

along with 170 trainers drawn from the line functions of NDPL. Besides it has on

its panel NDPL supervisors and executives who have rich experience in serving

SEB’s/private utilities. CENPEID has a strong networking with renowned experts

in technical and managerial field who are called for training programs based on the

needs

3,955

10,784

15,021

19,948

16,413

19,896 19,35017,041

2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010

Training Mandays


Training Processes

Training Need Identification –

Process Input Process Activities Process Output

Start

Collect

Training

Needs from

PMS and

Department

Heads

Compile the Training Needs captured from PMS and

Concerned department heads

Identify theme of training programs in consultation

with SCDTT and SCTT

Approval of

Training

Planner

Finalize List of Training Programs and prepare a

draft of Training Planner

No

Collect and compile the inputs from approving

authority

Yes

Approved Training

Calendar for the

year

End


Conducting Training Program –


Start

List of

Training

Programs and

Employees

Program Coordinator to send call letters to the

participants through Reporting Officers

Program Coordinator to arrange training as per

schedule and take attendance of the participants

Change in

Program

Schedule

No

Yes

Program coordinator to receive program feedback from

the participants

Processing of all the feedback forms for the

conducted training programs

PER for all the

conducted

programs

MIS Report and

Updated Training

Records in TIMS

and Ndpl-o-Pedia

End

Program Coordinator to schedule training

programs

Is it a

Certificatio

n

Program?

No

Yes

Distribute the certificates to the participants


Measuring Training Effectiveness –


Start

PER

PER review by AGM (CENPEID) with

respective program coordinator

HoD (Training) list applicable action points on

the basis of PER review

Questionnaires from the sample participants

and their reporting officers are filled

Select and prepare list of sample participants

for the identified programs

Filled questionnaires are compiled and

Training Effectiveness report is prepared

Start

Start

Questionnaire

for Customer

Satisfaction

Survey

Employees fill the questionnaire

Filled questionnaires are compiled and

Customer Satisfaction report is prepared

Report is submitted

to the Top

Management

End

Identify Five

Technical

and Five

Management

Programs

Review of Action

Points by AGM

(CENPEID)

End

Is any

Action Point

generated?

Yes

No


METHODOLOGY


The activity of “Competency Mapping and Skill Gap analysis” at NDPL was decided

to be covered under a “pilot project” and the results thus obtained were extrapolated

to propose relevant action plans and suggestions for training and development in

order to reduce the gaps of the required and actual skill levels.

The steps and methodology followed for competency mapping include –

Step 1 – Identifying the relevant areas indicating the skills / competencies

The competency mapping would, as a prerequisite, would require a framework through

which the levels of competencies could be captured. One of the most suitable methods

identified to ascertain the present level of competency is through the primary techniques or

direct interview with concerned reporting officers in order to ascertain “Key Responsibilities”

or “Nature of Job” for a certain set of employees. This can be justified through the concept

of training triangle concept in an organisation as mentioned below –

The top leadership of the company would provide the direction to the respective head of

functions, departments, groups, teams etc. and the training department pertaining to the

specific areas based in the longer and shorter term requirements of the organizational

competency building. These areas are then balanced at the team leader level with the

Identification and implementation of

competency development measures

Organizational Competency based on Short and Long term

HR Strategy

(Organization)

Individual Training requirement for

competency development

(Individual)

Mapping and balancing the organizational requirement and

individual need for competency development.

(Head/Team Leader)

Direction Delivery of Results


individual requirement of skill development and acquisition. Based on the above philosophy,

NDPL is having a framework of “Balanced Score Card (BSC) in place through which the

organizational strategy is cascaded to the respective functions / departments and the

respective heads have to derive their ‘Key Result Areas (KRAs)’ based n the BSC. The

KRAs thus identified are supported with the organizational and individual training and

development needs as well.

Creation of skill / competency map –

The next step was to identify the relevant areas which would help us identify the gaps in

the required and existing (present) level for the technicians selected as the sample. After

due consultation and active vetting by line managers including the HoGs & HoDs of various

groups / departments / functions these areas were so selected so that the skills or

competencies can to be analysed as part of this project were then identified after due

consultation with the training department.

These are listed as below –

1. Workplace Management

2. Self Discipline

3. Job Knowledge

4. Safety Compliance

5. Customer Orientation

6. Knowledge of Tools and Tackles and ability to maintain these

7. Quality consciousness

8. New initiatives like SHINE (Systematic and Holistic Improvement at NDPL through

Employee Engagement), quality circle

9. Team Work

10. Timely Completion of Work

The aforementioned areas are directly related to the daily work of the technicians and helped

us in making the respective heads understand their impact on the work as well as analyse

the effect of any training based on the same. A relevant framework of a “map” is a best


way to visualize the levels hence, the areas as mentioned above were suitably adjusted on

the a specially created chart which we called the “spider chart”. The spider chart thus

created is shown as below –

Workplace Management

Knowledge of Tools and Tackles and ability to maintain these Tackles

Safety Compliance

New initiative like SHINE, quality circle

Job Knowledge

Customer Orientation

Quality consciousness

Team Work

Timely Completion

of Work

1

2

3

4

5

Self Discipline


Step 2 – Identifying the sample, conducting one to one interviews with reporting

officers in order to identify the “Skill Gaps”

NDPL is a relatively large organisation with an employee base of almost 3500 employees

spread across different locations of NDPL and posted in departments and functions and

responsible for variety of outcomes as per the targets and requirements. The main functions

of the NDPL which comprise of largest manpower as well as continuous need or new

manpower are Operations, Commercial and Planning and Technology. These functions

carry out the basic operational task of the Power Distribution business of NDPL which

comprises of following major activities –

Power Supply – Operations and Maintenance

Metering, Billing and New Connections

Automation and Network Engineering

Apart from the functional and operational structure, NDPL also has the basic fabric of

hierarchy structure comprising of the executive grade with top, middle and junior

management at the top and middle levels of hierarchy. Additionally, there is also the non-

executive grade of supervisors and workers at the lowest level of hierarchy who are involved

in the daily operations. Any activity of competency mapping, analysis and the corresponding

actions in terms of training to improve a certain competency or skill would require some

tangible attributes to be measured. The managerial level is difficult to be analysied on a

certain scale or parameter because of majority of skills pertaining to managerial roles bears

a high level of behavioural impact, the effect of which, as improvement at the workplace,

takes place after a considerable period of time.

Due to the time factor in analysing the impact of training related improvement on the

managerial grade it was decided to study the competencies at the

technicians/workers grade where the assessment of impact of the development

initiatives is fairly simple to capture as well as observe in the work activities of the

workers.

Having decided upon the set of employees to be picked up for the sample, the next issue

was to identify the area from where this set would be picked up. All the functions of NDPL


NDPL’s Organisational and Functional Hierarchy

CEO / COO

Operations

Distribution

Power System Control & Asset

Mgmt

Commercial

Connection Mgmt

Meter, Reading & Billing Mgmt

Recovery Mgmt

Planning & Technology

Power Systems

Automation & Network Engineering

Information Technology

Project Engg & Contracts

Finance & Legal

HR & Admin

Training


were examined and the main functions of Operations and commercial were zeroed in where

the activities such as attending the complaints of power supply interruptions, managing

small teams of 2-3 workers, installing meters, doing operations on high voltage network etc.

may indicate palpable effect of trainings. Following areas were identified to be covered to

map the initial levels of competency/skills –

Operations – Distribution Operations and Maintenance, Protection, Street Lighting,

Fault Locating Crew

Planning and Technology – Power Systems

Commercial – Metering

The specific areas were identified as below –

Function – Area No. of Technicians

Commercial – Metering 5

Operations - Street Light 6

Operations – Protection 5

Planning and Technology - Power Systems 6

Operations - Fault Locating Crew 1

Operations - Distribution Operations and

Maintenance

7

Total 30

The period of the overall project had the main bearing on the selection of the size and level

of the sample. This can be explained from the fact that objective of the project also included

the assessment of the improvements/effects of the corrective measures based on the

competency mapping and the consequent skill gap analysis of the employees selected. All

the technicians were so identified who are involved in the frontline activities of their

respective functions which would be easy to quantify their actions help their seniors or


reporting officers to identify the changes/improvements, if any, after the measures taken

based on competency mapping exercise.

Having finalized the spider chart in Step - 1, we then did one to one interview with all the

heads / reporting officers of all the technicians who were identified for the survey of the

project, this involved visiting their respective offices, briefing them about the project and it’s

expected outcome and helping them correlating the daily work activities with the areas

identified as above. To quantify the observations a scale from 0 to 5 was identified and the

heads were asked their respective team member technician to rate them. This rating would

be the present level (PL-1). Based on the organizational requirement the required level was

worked out with the training department and the present level was compared with the

required level (RL). A form was created (see appendix) to map the ratings on site and

analyze the same having the provisions of signing off by the heads as well as training

department.

The illustration of the same was prepared as below –

Need / Desire

Skill Work place activities RL PL–1 PL–2

1 Workplace Management

Arrangement of Tools Record of daily activity

2 Self Discipline Punctuality

3 Job Knowledge Assessment of knowledge Errors committed

4 Safety Compliance Unsafe incidents

5 Customer Orientation Complaints

6 Knowledge of Tools and Tackles and ability to maintain these

Assessments

7 Quality consciousness

Errors committed

8 New initiatives like SHINE, quality circle

No. of initiatives

9 Team Work Feedback from team leader

10 Timely Completion of Work

Assessment of time taken to complete the job

The levels of the ratings for RL and PL-1 should also be objective in order to suggest the

relevant action or opportunity for improvement so as to target the level where a specific


technician / subject can be targeted to be taken within a given timeframe based on his/her

age, proficiency, ability to learn, etc. These levels were defined as below –

L–5 (Can teach others) : As per the requirement of the organisation, the concerned

employee should be able to add value to the area / process he is involved in thus at

this level a non-executive cadre who would at the most end up leading a field team

up to 10 members as per NDPL’s area of operation is at least expected to be able to

teach / train his junior team members for the certain skill he is good at

L–4 (Can do with Confidence) : At this level the technician is expected to

demonstrate a fair degree of confidence in the duties he/she is performing and

generally should not need guidance/assistance from seniors for the jobs that are

repetitive in nature

L–3 (Can do to some Degree) : At this level the technician would not be knowing is

job fully and would be seeking the help of seniors for some of the areas but at the

same time is able to handle certain jobs in individual capacity

L–2 (Know the Theory) : Technicians at this level should at least be aware of the

theory behind the jobs being undertaken, hence, this level becomes the basic level

that a technician must be at before being inducted to the independent jobs

L–1 (Do Not Know) : This is the lowermost level and if technician being at this level

will require training interventions to be able to add any value for the organisation

The desired capability of the technician based on the level was carefully finalised as the

objective was to identify the skill / competency gap analysis as well as the requirement of a

certain skill in the respective are of operation viz. Operations, commercials etc.

The levels thus helped the respective heads to very objectively identify as to where do there

technician team member stands at present and post training intervention. The final map

made for this activity is illustrated as below –


FINDING and ANALYSIS


Step 3 – Analysis of the outcomes of Steps – 1 and 2 and identify the training module

and organise the relevant training programs to bridge the gaps

Having completed the survey to examine the present level (PL-1) of the skills /

competencies, the next step involved following crucial activities –

Analysis of the gaps in the present and required levels, that is, PL-1 and RL

The data of the survey conducted through one to one interviews of the reporting officers o

30 technicians was complied and is summarised in the table below –

Competency : Present level

(PL-1)

Wo

rk p

lace

ma

na

ge

me

nt

Se

lf d

iscip

line

Jo

b K

no

wle

dg

e

Sa

fety

Co

mp

lian

ce

Custo

me

r

orie

nta

tio

n

Kn

ow

ledg

e o

f to

ol

an

d ta

cke

ls a

nd

ab

ility

to

ma

inta

in

the

se

Qu

alit

y

co

ncio

usn

ess

New

in

itia

tives lik

e

SH

INE

,qu

lity c

ircle

Te

am

wo

rk

Tim

ely

Com

ple

tion

of

work

Required Level of

Competency (Present Level

if below this then Training

Should be planned)

4 5 5 5 4 5 4 3 5 4

Average Competencies

Level 3.33 3.67 3.70 4.00 3.57 3.93 3.57 2.70 3.87 3.70

No. of Technicians at

Required Level

15 5 6 9 12 9 14 11 6 15

No. of Technicians

below Required

Level

15 25 24 21 14 21 13 12 24 11

No. of Technicians

above Required

Level

0 0 0 0 4 0 3 7 0 4


Competency : Present level

(PL-1)

Wo

rk p

lace

ma

na

ge

me

nt

Se

lf d

iscip

line

Jo

b K

no

wle

dg

e

Sa

fety

Co

mp

lian

ce

Custo

me

r

orie

nta

tio

n

Kn

ow

ledg

e o

f to

ol

an

d ta

cke

ls a

nd

ab

ility

to

ma

inta

in

the

se

Qu

alit

y

co

ncio

usn

ess

New

in

itia

tives lik

e

SH

INE

,qu

lity c

ircle

Te

am

wo

rk

Tim

ely

Com

ple

tion

of

work

% of Technicians

below Required

Level

50.0 83.3 80.0 70.0 46.6 70.0 43.3 40.0 80.0 36.6

Some Inferences –

The average competencies of the 30 identified technicians is largely below the

required level

More than 50% of the identified technicians are below the required level of

competencies for 6 areas out of 10 which indicates the need of interventions atleast

in these areas

Areas such as Job Knowledge, Safety Compliance, Knowledge of tool and tackels

and ability to maintain these and Team work need immediate focus

Some assumptions –

The opinion bias is not considered

Error due to the tendency of rating closer to the required level is not considered

Identification of training modules in order to bridge the gaps identified

In order to identify the applicable training intervention so as to bridge the gaps identified post

analysis, one has to consider the areas where in the present level of majority of the sample

is not only below the required level but also the concerned competencies should be relevant

to the processes of the organization in terms of operational improvement and efficiency as

well as adding value to the organization. NDPL being an offshoot of a conventional power

utility set up of Indian Power Sector is largely a labor oriented organization, thus the areas

where training interventions need to be planned should be directly influencing the daily

chores of the technicians. This will also help us analyse the post training impact on the

improvement, whatsoever, and the rise on the levels, if any.


Some criteria set for the identification of the training interventions based on the survey

conducted and the corresponding analysis is as below –

Training should be atleast planned wherever the "Present Level" is below "Required

Level" for a given competency

No tolerance limit of the “Targeted Levels” should be considered while planning the

training, this will help in avoiding the gap, if any, post training

Training should be atleast planned for competencies wherein 50% of the sample no.

of technicians or above are below the "Required Level"

Based on the aforementioned criteria and the outcome of the data following area were

identified for the training interventions and were conducted –

Safety Compliance –

o Safety and Disaster Management

o First Aid

Job Knowledge

Team Work

Since, the training interventions is a wholesome exercise, it was decided to include

more number of technicians so as to spread the advantage of the training to a

significantly higher number to avoid errors due to absentia of the technicians

considered in the sample survey. Moreover, the areas of training intervention

considered as above are of core operational, the rise of fall in the average levels of

competencies would largely indicate whether the training intervention was effective

or not. Due to the same it was decided that the number of technicians to be called for

training should be atleast close to double the figure of the same which will help in

extrapolating the results for a wider range of workers. The experience on such

extrapolation and subsequent actual impact will help the similar efforts to be

conducted for managerial cadre as well.

Step 4 – Capture and compile the data regarding the present levels of competency

post training interventions

The training intervention was finally carried out for 57 technicians and again the direct one

to one interview was again conducted with the reporting officers of the technicians who

attended the trainings and the data was again captured and compiled through the use of the

“spider chart”.


Following is the summarised table of the same –

Competency : Present Level

(PL-2)

work

pla

ce

ma

na

ge

me

nt

Se

lf d

iscip

line

Jo

b K

no

wle

dg

e

Sa

fety

Co

mp

lian

ce

Custo

me

r

orie

nta

tio

n

Kn

ow

ledg

e o

f to

ol

an

d ta

cke

ls a

nd

ab

ility

to

ma

inta

in

the

se

Qu

alit

y

co

ncio

usn

ess

New

in

itia

tives lik

e

SH

INE

,qu

lity c

ircle

Te

am

wo

rk

Tim

ely

Com

ple

tion

of

work

Required Level of

Competency (Present Level

if below this then Training

Should be planned)

4 5 5 5 4 5 4 3 5 4

Average Competencies

Level 4.14 4.12 4.09 4.30 4.00 4.25 4.04 2.91 4.39 4.02

No. of Technicians at

Required Level

29 20 21 26 32 22 30 17 26 27

No. of Technicians

below Required

Level

9 37 36 30 12 35 0 23 31 14

No. of Technicians

above Required

Level

19 0 0 1 13 0 27 17 0 16

Competency : Present Level

(PL-2)

work

pla

ce

ma

na

ge

me

nt

Se

lf d

iscip

line

Jo

b K

no

wle

dg

e

Sa

fety

Co

mp

lian

ce

Custo

me

r

orie

nta

tio

n

Kn

ow

ledg

e o

f to

ol

an

d ta

cke

ls a

nd

ab

ility

to

ma

inta

in

the

se

Qu

alit

y

co

ncio

usn

ess

New

in

itia

tives lik

e

SH

INE

,qu

lity c

ircle

Te

am

wo

rk

Tim

ely

Com

ple

tion

of

work

% of Technicians

below Required

Level

15.7 64.9 63.1 52.6 21.0 61.4 0.0 40.3 54.3 24.5


Some inferences –

Technicians below the “Required Level” of competencies have fallen for almost all the areas

after training interventions which is the indication of general trend of competencies / skill

gap reduction.


Average levels of competency shows improvement for almost all the areas after training

interventions which is the indication of general trend of competencies / skill gap reduction.

30% of the total technicians who attended the training for the areas as below were the ones

who were covered in the Step – 2 and the training intervention and the corresponding impact

on them would provide more precise results –

Safety Compliance –

o Safety and Disaster Management

o First Aid

Job Knowledge

Team Work

The outcomes of the training interventions for these 30% of the technicians are also

indicated in the following pages.


4.263.93 3.93

4.604.33 4.46

5 5 5

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

Safety Compliance Job Knowledge Team work

Average Level of Competencies for sample batch (before & after)

Average Competency Level (prior to training interventions) Average Competency Level (post training interventions)

Required Level


There’s an improvement in the average levels of competencies as a general trend as well

as the 3 main areas in which the training was conducted for the 30% of the technicians who

were examined in step – 2 and who appeared for the training.

The required levels for these areas is 5 and the overall gap before and after the

training intervention has actually reduced or in other words have been bridged

through the relevant training provided to the identified sample size. Since, the impact

of the training can be felt over the period of time as well as repeated programs to be

conducted on the same subject so as to reinforce the learnings to the workforce, the

reduction in the gaps of the average levels of competencies is a significant outcome

of the entire project


CONCLUSIONS


Step 5 – Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on the limited attempt of competency assessment, mapping and skill gap analysis

and the corresponding training intervention following are some of the recommendations that

would be relevant to NDPL as an organization as well as it’s long and short term capability

building.

1. First and foremost improvement would be to incorporate the “Spider

Chart” to plan the training at individual as well as organizational level

which will help in effectively merging the individual and organizational

requirements of training

2. The training need identification will then become regular process rather

than a onetime exercise and will help in developing modular training

curriculum and learning programes that can be clustered as needed

3. The customization of training becomes very easy as the training

department knows the exact gap in the required and present level hence,

this should be adopted atleast every six months for the training

dependent organizations such as NDPL

4. The training programs should help to promote job competence, the

competency mapping method as demonstrated through this project will

help understand the minute nuances of the job thus will also help in

evaluating the suitability of training

5. This method should be used to develop detailed job description which

would further help in creating better and effective job specification which

in turn helps in better and appropriate recruitment through relevant job

advertisements

6. The method used for competency mapping in the project can be

especially useful in personnel selection for various jobs and performance

appraisals as this method would help to identify employee readiness for

promotion as well as guide career development of employees


7. The existing knowledge is very important to identify the needs of training,

this is helpful to identify the training and development areas for lateral

joiniees thus this method can help for better utilization of existing

knowledge of senior level employees who join directly at senior positions

8. This method helps in performance improvement as well as promotes

ongoing employee performance development


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Formal and Informal Data of Power Distribution from NDPL

Internet – Official Web sites of NDPL, various Power Sector Organizations

and other data related to Training and Development

project report - ms vyas - tpddl - june 2010

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