HR Issues and Challenges in Indian Software Industry
Dr. Harry CD
1.
Exclusive Technical Career
Opportunities
According to an analysis of
what the IT professionals look for in their career in over 300 top IT companies
in the US and Europe, clearly reveals that they are technology oriented and are
concerned with the type of technology they are working for. In India, software
professionals move to the position of project leader in 3-4 years. The nature
of projects being presently handled by Indian software organisations require
that a software professional should be prepared to handle leadership and
managerial responsibilities after being a developer for about 3-4 years.
Atypical software professional doesn’t want to move to managerial position and
prefer to concentrate doing technical work They have their role models from USA
and other developed countries where software professionals keep working as a
technical professional for atleast 10-12 years before moving to managerial
position. Software Companies in North America and in other developed countries
work on product development projects and are able to offer dual career
opportunities in technical (knowledge) stream as well as in managerial stream.
However, at present juncture not many Indian Software Companies are able to
offer exclusive technical career opportunities. In India, the existing software
business is such that organisation will not have growth if software
professionals don’t start accepting managerial position. In a multinational
Software organisation, the first level software professionals having 2-4 years
of work experience were inquired whether given a choice they would like to
attend a managerial or functional training programme. Invariably, every one of
them replied that given a choice, they would prefer to spend their time in
acquiring additional technical capabilities in their area of specialization as
they are expected to be proficient in latest technologies in their respective
fields. It seems that IT professionals like learning such subjects which are
more logical and quantifiable. Since technical knowledge being more specific,
tangible and apparently more visible, Indian software professionals tend to
spend time on acquiring new knowledge and skills in technical field and this
explains their inclination and aspiration for an exclusive technical
career.
Note: It is the nature of
projects being handled by Indian Software organisations which provide very limited
opportunities for software professionals to grow in technical streams.
2.
Managing the aspirations of software
professionals- towards building realistic expectations.
Analysis of data suggests
that software professionals tend to overestimate themselves and their
capabilities. As a consequence of overestimation, they have expectations
disproportionate to their capabilities and more importantly, disproportionate
to their contributions to goals of their organisations. It has been seen that
software professionals desire to work with complex technologies much faster in
their career. Learning those technologies by oneself may require up to two to
three years. Typical software professionals are reluctant to wait that long to
learn those technologies. Software professionals are in touch with each other.
Internet and other technologies further facilitate this. They know what is
happening to their friends and colleagues. They know what is being learnt by
their colleagues and what platforms they are using. They aspire to work on
similar platforms and want to work with latest technologies that are being used
by their reference group members. Apart from professional activities, they know
about the pay, perks and about foreign visit of their reference group members.
They build similar expectations and when
those expectations are not fulfilled, they experience tension and
frustration. In this context it is interesting to note that software
professionals when they resign from a job in India and go abroad, they don’t
necessarily work on a superior project or technology. But they get partly
compensated by higher earnings and savings. In addition, being abroad makes
them and their families feel good. As a consequence, at least for sometime they
willingly work on assignments, which may be routine and may not provide
opportunities for learning and creating new knowledge. The reality is software
professionals learn by being part of a regular professional course. Hence, they
believe they can deliver whatever is required of them. Delivery of what is
required by customers require knowing your customer, having product and process
knowledge, skills relevant to the tasks and more importantly a mindset to work
on details. Many software professionals don’t have all these capabilities and
hence, they are limited in terms of their ability to deliver what their customers
require. Partly, the system of education leads to software professionals
developing the arrogance and partly it is ignorance about the organisations and
their realities. It is important to mention here that while designing growth
strategies, organisations should be in touch with the hopes, aspirations and
values of their team members. Unfortunately, for software organisations, the
task is much more complicated for the simple reason that many a time, software
professionals themselves don’t know what they value. Knowledge organisations
like software organisations will benefit by creating opportunities for their
members to be in touch with what they value and how strong are those
preferences and choices. They should also be facilitated to become aware whether
what they claim as their values are their own or of their reference groups’
which they have imbibed without examining them.
Software professionals are
young and immature. According to Nasscom’s survey, the overall median age of
employees is only 26.6 years. Hence, 18.7 percent of the employees are below 25
years of age and only 2.5 percent of the personnel are above the age of 45
years. According to Nasscom, this age profile has important ramifications. It
is possibly the reason why they tend to build unrealistic expectations. On the
otherhand, the optimism lies in the fact that software professionals by nature
being highly rational and analytical can be developed towards building
realistic expectations if the organisations create space for its knowledge workers
to know themselves and be modest about their achievements.
3. Creating a match between
individual and organisation – towards building psychological contract based on
mutual expectations – integrating with the organisation.
Of all industries, the Indian
software industry is facing the brunt of the war for talent. It is because
people are central to the software industry. Technology resides between the
ears of the individual and walks out every evening on a pair of legs. The
market is surfeit with opportunities, with every one vying with each other for
the same talent pool. Software professionals change a number of jobs in their
career without thinking it to be reckless. There is a shift from the
traditional organisational career to the ‘protean career’. The ‘protean career’
is a process in which the person, not the organisation is managing. The
person’s personal career choice and self-fulfillment are the integrative
elements in his life. Considering the above, the most common advice to ‘pay and
treat talented people well’ is no longer enough to attract and keep
professionals in firm. Non-monetary principles and techniques need to be used
now as strategies to achieve this end. Software organisations need to start
with the recognition that the psychological contract is changing. It has to do
with building a strong bond with the employee, long before he or she actually
becomes one. It is important to keep in mind that one must look not only for
‘competency fit’ but also a ‘culture fit’. Infosys Technologies and Wipro who
have excellent corporate image and identity have stated their corporate values
and mission clearly which in turn define expectations and appropriate behaviour
for organisational members. Induction must provide an opportunity for the new employee,
to have a clear understanding of the expectations of the job. When people join
organisations like Wipro and Infosys technologies, a psychological contract is
built based on mutual / realistic expectations. These expectations are created
based on what is revealed by individuals and organisations to each other during
the selection process. Transparency in dealing and clarity of expectations from
each other go a long way in improving the nature and quality of the
psychological contract between professionals aspiring to join an organisation
and the organisation itself. Infosys Ltd. and Wipro ensure that they don’t give
a rosy picture to the knowledge workers aspiring to join these organisations.
They are told that being solution-providing companies, they would be required
to work for defined periods on assignments involving older technologies.
However, they are assured that they would get opportunities to learn new
technologies on a regular basis and at a later date, they would also get
opportunities to work on projects of their choice (Agrawal,1998). It is
important to mention here that software professionals being knowledge workers
enjoy working in organisation where the work culture is open and highly
professional, where organisations treat their employees with respect and give
them a lot of professional freedom and opportunities to learn. Being treated as
a professional and having opportunities to use one’s existing knowledge is
likely to be experienced as a positive experience by a knowledge worker. Knowledge
organisations who treat their knowledge workers as professionals and give them
freedom and respect, will find it easier to integrate them with organisations
and involve them in the growth plan of the company.
4.
Nurturing Teamwork and
Team-spirit
“None of us is as strong as all of us”- that just shows the
importance of teamwork. A team is a group of people who are working together
toward a common end. Ideally, a company should comprise not of levels,
departments and hierarchies, but of empowered teams. Each member of a team must
be trained in all activities of the team and the team should work on
assignments. This is very much true for Indian Software Industry where most of
the projects require teamwork. Software organisations should make efforts towards
creating a work environment that nurtures teamwork. The internal structure of a
team largely governs the relationships among its members and often determines
their behaviour. When its internal structure is effective, the team will
concentrate on its official objectives, but when the structure is ineffective,
performance generally suffers. Even though each individual member has a unique
role, the overall character of a cohesive team is much like a collective
personality. In the long run, this develops employees, reduces the problems a
company may have to face when vacancies occur, help in finding replacements,
ensures smooth workflow and greatly helps in morale- building and growth of the
company. Unfortunately, a knowledge worker by nature tends not to be a great
team worker. It may be because they are expected to be proficient in latest
technologies in their respective fields. Since technical knowledge being more
specific and visible, software professionals tend to spend time on acquiring
new knowledge and skills in technical field rather than acquiring team-building
skills. Besides, the project teams are usually temporary with project duration
being three months to one year. Here it becomes all the more important to
ensure that the team members familiarize themselves and enjoy working with each
other quickly. And it is true that one has to work at being a good team player.
It is a skill that has to be learnt. Our education system, for example, places
a lot of focus on individual development, the ranking in school and college
level examinations, to higher education based on rankings in competitive exams
etc. stresses more on individual excellence. Things are different when one
enters the work arena. One is told to be a good team player, but never shown how
to do so. Throwing the baggage accumulated over years of performing well
individually, to now sharing the rewards with other team members, doesn’t come
easily.
Sam Pitroda lists out the following skills, which he
considers necessary, for a person to become a good team player : Respect for
others; Tolerance to diverse view points; Ability to resolve conflicts within
the team; and eschewing egotism.
Infosys Technologies and
Wipro have substantially succeeded in creating a work environment that nurtures
teamwork. Some Unique aspects of these organisations are:
¨
Both these organisations are flat in terms of their organisational
structure. The work environment is informal and they have common canteens,
common buses and similar workstations for all knowledge workers.
¨
Project teams are provided certain allowances for group outings and
entertainment. They also create a common directory and use it to communicate
and be in touch with each other.
¨
These organisations have extensively used Outbound Training to help their
knowledge workers learn the skills of team working.
¨
Every person is also provided a group wise
summary of what his reference group-members want him or her to continue doing,
start doing and stop doing. Such qualitative feedback provides the direction in
which a person is expected to move to improve his own performance and the
performance of the team. Software professionals, Shailaja M and Rashmi P
joined Oasys Technologies in 1998. They believe in teamwork When they feel the
project has to be successful, teamwork comes automatically. Conflicts are
minor, mostly on technical issues. There may be a clash of ideas. But they
resolve conflicts by talking it out and reasoning what is correct.
Kavin Ireland, writing in her book, ‘How to have all
the Answers when Questions keep changing’, says, “Learn to be a team player.
That means you don’t get to play all positions and you can’t take credit for
all the wins. But then again, you don’t get blamed for all the losses either”.
5. Need and importance of Leadership
Leadership is the ability to influence a group
toward the achievement of goals and it is one of the most important
determinants of morale. A good leader is someone the employees always look up
to. Wipro Chairman, Azim Premji speaking at a function organised to award him
the JRD Tata corporate leadership award in New Delhi recently said,”leadership
will be determined by its ability to generate excitement and enthusiasm to get
ideas that will result in a sustainable, competitive advantage for the organisation.
Leadership has built on a strong foundation of values which make success
enduring and helps in building strong, resilient organisations that can standup
to any crisis along the way.”
The nature of projects being presently handled by
Indian software organisations require that a software professional should be
prepared to handle leadership and managerial responsibilities after being a
developer for about 3-4 years. Software professionals want to experience a
sense of growth. They want to have new titles and they like to be called as
project leaders/managers. But they are reluctant to provide leadership and
perform managerial roles. Most of them being young doesn’t bother about
learning and developing leadership skills and are reluctant to invest time on
leadership issues. In a multinational software organisation, we had inquired
with first level software professionals having 2-4 years of work experience,
whether given a choice they would like to attend a managerial or functional
training programme. Invariably, every one of them replied that given a choice,
they would prefer to spend their time in acquiring additional technical
capabilities in their area of specialization. Since technical knowledge being
more specific, tangible and visible, software professionals tend to spend time
on acquiring new knowledge and skills in their technical field rather than
acquiring leadership skills. It is a
paradox that they don’t like to be led by others, and yet they often complain
about lack of leadership in a given situation. It is this unique context which
makes the task of providing leadership in knowledge organisations extremely
complex and exciting. It is felt that Indian Software professionals must
realise that in their own interest, they must invest some of their time in
acquiring managerial capabilities. At least some of them have to take
initiative to perform leadership function on a tenure basis. In their own
interest they should take initiative to provide support to those who agree to
perform these leadership functions. It is also important that in turn,
knowledge organisations like software companies give signals indicating that
leadership and managerial contributions are noticed and valued by the system.
In Wipro, seven leadership capabilities were identified
and a five-day training programme, ‘Wipro Leadership Programme’ was designed
around those capabilities. All managers were planned to be covered by the
programme. Members of the Corporate Executive Council spent considerable time
interacting with the programme participants. The Chairman spent half-a-day in
every training programme addressing the participants and listening to their
queries and suggestions. Quantified feedback is given on the seven leadership
attributes.
Venkatesh
joined a well- known software organisation, he expected his project leader to
be willing to teach him to work on complex technologies. After working on a
project for about six months, he felt that the project leader is more concerned
towards having team members with requisite skills rather than investing time in
educating them. The focus was always on what was visible and tangible. As soon
as the project got over, Venkatesh was made to work on another project with a
different project leader this time.
Software professionals don’t have immediate
permanent bosses. Often they are part of the temporary teams and during those
periods they tend to have temporary leaders. Since relationship is temporary,
leaders will be reluctant to make an investment of their time teaching their
team members new technologies. Since mentoring contributions are difficult to
quantify and often their impact may not be noticed immediately, people in the
position of leaders are reluctant to make investment of time and effort to
educate their team members.
5.
Nurturing Customer
orientation / emphasis on customer orientation
An unrelenting focus on customer
needs has never been more critical than it is today. Traditionally,
organisations focus on measuring financial performance because it is important
for shareholders- the major stockholders. However, the world becoming a global
village has led to customers having enormous choices and say in defining the
success of an organisation. Hence, there is a need for organisations and
particularly, knowledge organisations to have knowledge about their customers
and their satisfaction.
Typical knowledge workers
(software professionals) tend to define their concept of self in terms of what
knowledge they have. It is strongly felt that they lack customer orientation. They
tend to start from where they are in terms of their knowledge rather than
starting from where the customer is. But knowledge can be relevant and
effective only if it is contextual. A knowledge organisation, which nurtures
customer orientation and encourages its knowledge workers to have knowledge of
its customers, is likely to be more successful in terms of its growth.
Delivery of what is required by
customers require knowing your customer, having product and process knowledge,
skills relevant to the tasks and more importantly a mindset to work on details.
Many software professionals don’t have all these capabilities and hence they
are limited in terms of their ability to deliver what their customers require.
Knowledge organisations need to
ensure that they have effective performance management systems that help in
providing big enough roles to knowledge workers based on the requirements of
the customers. Being able to perform and deliver what the customer requires is
the only way to survive and grow in a highly competitive software market.
In Infosys and Wipro, it is ensured that
project teams are in touch with their customers on a continuous basis. They
ensure that expectations and requirements of a project are clearly understood
by every person associated with the project. Customer orientation is very much
a part of induction training. Employees are in direct touch with their
customers and regular visits to customers’ sites by project members are
encouraged. Superior systems of documentation enable an organisation to deliver
performance and quality to their customers. Typically, while software
professionals are excited about working on projects, the documentation
processes come through as routine activities. Both Wipro and Infosys are
ISO-9000 organisations. Since people working in these organisations take pride
in their organisation being a SEI certified software companies, they are
willing to invest time and effort for documentation.
Wipro has identified four values
towards customer satisfaction. They are:
¨
Human values—Customers are respected as
individuals, their different needs are recognized and company continually
strives to satisfy those needs to improve the quality of their lives.
¨
Integrity—Individual and business relationships
are governed by the highest standards of integrity.
¨
Innovative solutions—The company emphasizes the
need to constantly research and develop superior products and services that
meet the changing needs of customers.
¨
Value for money—The Company promises to serve
customers with continuous improvements in quality, cost and delivery of
products and services.
Infosys and Wipro invest
considerable time and effort to institutionalise these values. Since these
organisations are growing fast, they feel that they need to put much more
effort to ensure that every member of their organisation internalizes these
values. At Ramco systems, sales people
and support staffs are compensated on the basis of customer satisfaction.
Electronic tracking of account information helps the company stay in tune with
the customer. This is a necessity for a start up, which is trying to make a
name for it
At HCL, the company’s core
competency lies in understanding customer needs in areas of IT.
Peter
Drucker says, “Business has only two basic functions: marketing and innovation.
Marketing and innovation produce results. All the rest are costs.” Today, in
software industry, a strong market position is based on its technical
competence. Eric A. von Hippel while examining the sources of innovative ideas
in several industries found that bulk of innovations originate in organisations
where the users are technically competent. Now the question arises, why there
is lack of innovation and creativity felt in Indian Software organisation?
While innovation requires creativity, it also involves a great deal of hard
work. The lonely inventors with bright ideas take the essential first steps,
and their efforts will be totally wasted if someone with the necessary drive and
energy doesn’t pick up each idea and turn it into a business success.
A
Dr. Harry CD is a HR strategist with more than 25 years of experience in multinational corporations.
He is a Fellow from IIM-Ahmedabad and has a PhD from Gujarat State University, Dr. Harry is a corporate trainer, active researcher and writer.
He is a Fellow from IIM-Ahmedabad and has a PhD from Gujarat State University, Dr. Harry is a corporate trainer, active researcher and writer.
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