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ABSTRACT
“Knowledge is the currency of the 21st Century”. This makes it important
for all the countries that they shift their focus from mining the natural
resources to fostering new skills and knowledge in the country. Managing
knowledge has become very important in this century because this is an era
of information overload, i.e. everyone is bombarded with so much of
information that a separate system needs to be developed to manage the
knowledge. Every organisation has a lot of knowledge with the people
working in the organisation but often it happens that the organisation lacks
specific knowledge needed at any particular point of time. This happens not
because the organisation lacks the knowledge needed but because the
knowledge is not managed well to make it available to the right person at
the right time. Because of these prevailing situations in organisations, there
is a requirement of gathering, alteration, distribution and utilisation of
knowledge. This process of gathering, altering, distribution and utilisation
of knowledge is labelled as Knowledge Management. Knowledge
Management plays a vibrant role in higher education as the industry deals
with knowledge at each step of their operations. Be it teaching, research,
consultancies, industryacademia interaction, the members of a higher
educational institute have to deal with knowledge. The higher education
sector of any country plays a very significant role in the economic
development by making the youth of the country future ready. If this sector
is not able to manage the knowledge it will result in sub-standard quality of
teaching learning process as a whole. KM affords the sharing of treasured
organizational information all over the organizational hierarchy, which can
escape re-inventing the wheel, reduce redundant work, reduce the training
time for new faculty, and enable the preservation of the intellectual
property after the faculty leaves, if such knowledge can be codified. It is in
this backdrop that an attempt is made to study the systems of KM in the
educational institutions. The thesis addresses the different knowledge
management practices used in the higher education sector within the state
of Gujarat. An attempt has been made to study the systems of KM in the
educational institutions through the study of the impact of various
knowledge management activities and initiatives on organisational
learning & development. The relationship between learning & development
with team development, document management, collaborative
communication systems, knowledge development & audit and communities
of interest within the organization has been found out. In addition, an
attempt is made to study the effect of cooperation within the institutes,
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cooperation between the vii institutes and industry-academia
collaboration on the factors affecting knowledge management (Knowledge
Creation, Knowledge Storage, Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Application
and Knowledge Evaluation). An attempt has also been made to identify if
there is any difference in the knowledge management activities, initiatives,
types and factors w.r.t. gender of faculties, educational qualifications of
faculties and technical & non-technical nature of HEIs. The data has also
been tested for any differences between the Knowledge Management of
different institutes belonging to different regions within the state of
Gujarat; difference between the tacit and explicit knowledge management
practiced within HEIs in the state of Gujarat and correlation between
organisational learning & development with Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
Management. The study utilized a population of all the faculties and
Principals / Deans / HODs of various higher educational institutions within
the state of Gujarat. This population has been overlooked in the researches
done up till now. Around 2500 questionnaires were distributed to faculty
member through Google form link and physical copies, 648 faculty
members responded. For getting information about Industry- Academia
Cooperation a separate questionnaire was sent to the Principals / Deans /
HODs of Colleges within Gujarat. In total 103 Principals filled the Google
form for this questionnaire. So, the study is conducted on responses
received by random respondents. A descriptive research design has been
used for the study. A range of quantitative and qualitative data analyses and
information gathering procedures have been used. This included a
knowledge management questionnaire for faculty members. It was divided
into nine sections wherein, the first section chiefly attempted to collect
demographic data like name of college, gender, stream of education and
highest qualification held. The second section primarily aimed to collect the
data from the respondents in respect to learning and development. The
third section came to collect data related to the collaborative
communication within the institutes. The fourth section collected data
about the document management practiced in higher educational
institutes. The fifth section collected data about the participation of
faculties in communities of interest within the institutes. The sixth section
was designed to collect data about the inter-institutional cooperation
between faculties of higher educational institutions. The seventh section
aimed at collecting data regarding the knowledge development and audits
conducted in higher educational institutes. The eighth included statements
related to team development within the institutes. Last section included
statements related to cooperation between individuals within the
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institutes. These statements viii were carefully framed keeping in mind
previous studies. The structured questionnaire for Principals/Dean/HODs
was designed to collect data regarding industry-academia interactions. The
questionnaire had mostly dichotomous & multiple choice close ended
question. For the analysis of data and hypothesis testing Statistical Package
for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 has been used. Descriptive analyses,
frequency distributions, comparison of means (t-test & F-test) and
correlation analysis have been used to analyse the data and test the
hypotheses. Results from the study revealed that learning & development is
positively correlated with knowledge management activities (team
development, document management, collaborative communication
systems, knowledge development & audit and communities of interest
within the organization). All factors of knowledge management are found
to be positively correlated with cooperation between individuals in an
educational institution. Knowledge Management is found to be moderately
to strongly correlate to cooperation between individuals in an educational
institution. All factors of knowledge management are found to be positively
correlated with cooperation between educational institutions. Knowledge
Management is found to be moderately correlated to cooperation between
educational institutions. Findings suggest that many higher educational
institutes focus on knowledge creation through such interactions. People
from industries are frequently invited by higher educational institutes to
share their knowledge. These interactions help in aligning the curriculum
design with the needs of industry. Hence knowledge management is
fostered by industry-academia interactions. It is found that none of these
activities, initiatives, types and factors varied significantly for the faculties
of two genders. It is found that faculties with pre-research experience
scored more than faculties with post-research experience for Knowledge
Management, Knowledge Creations, Knowledge Applications, and Explicit
Knowledge Management. It is revealed that Knowledge Management,
Knowledge Creations, Knowledge Storage, Knowledge Transfers,
Knowledge Applications, Explicit Knowledge Management, Learning &
Development, Collaborative Communications, Document Management,
Knowledge Development & Audit varies significantly among technical and
non-technical institutes. No difference is found between knowledge
management practiced in institutes operating in different regions of
Gujarat state. It is found that average of tacit knowledge management is
higher than the average of explicit knowledge management in the HEIs. And
it is found that both tacit and explicit knowledge management are
positively correlated with organisational learning & development. ix The
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research recommends that more opportunities for faculties in higher
educational institutes should be created to communicate with each other.
Institutes should try to have a framework where faculties get more chances
to interact with old colleagues, faculties of other institutes and people from
industry. This will help in creation of more knowledge and this will also
help the faculties to update their current knowledge base. There should be
a central storage system to make the documents available at one place only.
It is also recommended that security of the documents needs to be
considered and soft formats should be password encrypted. A gap analysis
should be done to list the areas where knowledge creation is needed. These
areas should be communicated to the faculty members and they should be
motivated to create knowledge in these areas to achieve the objectives of
the institutes. HEIs should make efforts to convert tacit knowledge to
explicit knowledge. Three different models are for Knowledge management
are also recommended based on the current study. The first model is
named as Learning & Development Framework for Knowledge
Management. It has been designed based on the findings of this study along
with some logics in the area of knowledge management. The second model
is named Knowledge Management – A Conceptual Model. It is a conceptual
model based on logics. The third model is named “An Integrated Approach
to Sustainable Knowledge Management in Higher Educational Institutions -
A Semantic Model”. This model in designed on the basis of the findings of
the study and logics used for the study.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The unparalleled leaping of Science and Technology has industrialized human life in such an
incredible way that one can have the whole world in one‘s hands at any place, in terms of
knowledge. Hence, there is a requirement of gathering, alteration, distribution and utilisation
of knowledge; this is labelled as Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management plays a
vibrant role in higher education. The gathering and sharing of both explicit and tacit
knowledge can expand organizational as well as educational outcomes. Effective KM
strategies within a higher educational institute can increase its capacity to help internal and
external stakeholders (Peggy and Kristen 2010). Oliver (1990) argues that a learning plan
encompasses the following key elements:
4 Tasks that learners are supposed to do
4 Resources that help learners to conduct the task
4 Support machineries that exist from a teacher realizing it
The combination of new technological methods is often taken as a universal remedy for all
educational ills (Cuban 1986). Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) play strategic role in
the economic and social development of the nation and of the areas where they are located.
The HEIs are significant actors in the social system, through the resource of new
professionals who have universalistic skills, which offer a better identification of their social
and economic accountabilities. In this sense, the HEIs should be able to give solutions which
are suitable to their social and public accountability, through the examination of four main
objectives: (i) Education and Learning, (ii) Commercialization of Research, (iii) Co-operation
and Collaborations with Industries, and (iv) Co-operation with Outside Institutions and
Centres.
Learning is cooperative when it encompasses a group of people occupied together on a
specific issue or task and it arises from the collaborative communication among the
participants. Research has shown that cooperative learning has advantages such as
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proficiency in working with others, self-confidence, and personal insight (McConnell 2000).
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Progress to a knowledge-based civilization and economy will necessitate that universities, as
centers of knowledge conception, and their associates in the society give Knowledge
Management their full consideration. The multifaceted questions of the future will not be
solved ―by the book , but by Knowledge Management, future oriented individuals and‖
groups who are not scared of questioning established notions and are able to cope with the
anxiety and uncertainty this entails. If the society fails to be successful in tapping creativity in
higher education, the very aim of a knowledge society will be at stake. Purely mechanical
methodologies, geared towards accomplishment of predefined targets, will certainly not
allow HEIs to contribute adequately in the direction of this determined objective.
To achieve a knowledge-based society, it is essential to interweave the knowledge
management techniques in the domain of higher education. The aim of this research is to
establish the necessity of Knowledge Management in higher educational institutions and to
suggest a model for it.
1.1.1 Knowledge Management (KM)
Knowledge Management includes a range of practices by organizations to identify, create,
symbolize, and dispense knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning. It is defined as the
process of converting information and intellectual resources into a lasting value. It also
awards people with the knowledge that they require to take action, when they need it (Jillinda
et al 2000). Jennifer Rowley (2000) defines the term KM as follows: ―Knowledge
management is concerned with the exploitation and development of the knowledge assets of
an organisation with a view to furthering the organisation‘s objectives. The knowledge to be
managed includes both explicit, documented knowledge and implicit, subjective knowledge .‖
Knowledge Management is the management of procedures that oversee the creation,
diffusion, and application of knowledge by integrating technologies, organizational structures
and people, to generate the most operative learning, problem solving, and decision-making
processes in an organization. It is an individual‘s understanding of information based on
personal involvements, skills and capabilities (Mamta Malik 2005).
1.1.2 Importance of Knowledge Management
HEIs provide knowledge to students. Most of them are making a quantum of knowledge
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available in such a way that there is no actual transformation of knowledge made conceivable
to the students. Nowadays, students find a lot of disruptions from their studies due to the
2
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progressions and innovations in the field of science and technology and also due to numerous
other factors that prevail over the society. These make the students lack in attentiveness in
their studies. In order to make the students focused on their studies, new trends in teaching
ought to be adopted. Students can get essential assistance from any specialists to solve their
problems in the case of a virtual learning workplace (Kiili and Killi 2001).
Education now has to be tailor-made to the requests of the private sector. Also, institutions of
international repute are making inroads into the higher education sector, by providing
unconventional learning opportunities leading to the award of degrees in their universities. At
the same time, the conventional structure of higher education in the state sponsored
institutions has sustained to remain around teacher-student contact, and finds that it is no
longer suitable in meeting its demand and significance. There are not enough faculty
members, library books or rooms, and there is not sufficient time. New organizational
structures are therefore necessary to support the new learning processes (Jayanthi Ranjan and
Raju Ranjan 2010). Computers and videos in higher education have so far hardly lived up to
the possibilities made by them. No medium, however useful, can explain fundamental
educational problems (Ramsden 1992). There are lots of movements available, like
information management, e-learning, etc., but they will not offer handling knowledge, that is
knowledge from the scholars, faculty members, administrative persons and others like people
from the industries. To do this, there is an evolving trend in the education domain, which is
called Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management will make the teaching-learning
process relaxed and more exciting. With the application of the knowledge management
system in higher education field, there will be a noteworthy change in the quality of
education. Keeping all these issues or problems and development in the background, this
research focuses on the necessity of Knowledge Management in higher educational
institutions and suggest a model for it.
1.1.3 Advantages of Knowledge Management
KM offers a lot of benefits when it is realized in higher education. KM affords the sharing of
treasured organizational information all over the organizational hierarchy, which can escape
re-inventing the wheel, reduce redundant work, reduce the training time for new faculty
members, and enable the preservation of the intellectual property after the faculty members
leave if such knowledge can be codified. KM expands the quality of the organization, and
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takes the institution or the organization into the number one position.
3
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The reasons for HEIs to adopt Knowledge Management are as follows:
6 To retain the knowledge of personnel
6 To increase the retention and graduation rates
6 To retain a skilled work force in the face of severe employee scarcities
6 To compete in an atmosphere where institutions cross states and national limits
6 To radically reduce costs
6 To provide the prospective to expansion or growth
6 To respond faster
1.1.4 Higher Education (HE)
During the last era, the HE in India had a manifold development. HE generally includes
undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training and
professional courses. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide higher
education. HE comprises teaching, research and social service undertakings of universities,
and within the territory of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate and postgraduate
levels. HE is very significant to national economies, both as an important industry in its own
right, and as a foundation of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy
(Jayanthi Ranjan and Raju Ranjan 2010).
1.1.5 Knowledge Management in Higher Education
Knowledge management is functional today across the world, in all industry sectors, public
and private organizations, and charitable institutions and international charities. Most
outstandingly, operative knowledge management is now acknowledged to be the key driver
of new knowledge and new ideas for the innovation process, to new innovative products,
services and solutions. Macintosh et al (1999), labelled knowledge assets as the knowledge
concerning markets, products, technologies and organizations. A web-based learning
methodology will improve the self-directed learning of students.
Indian higher technical institutions have gradually developed considerable Research &
Development competences. A few institutions have shown very favourable results. Though
information accessibility has become easier, yet translating it into knowledge is very difficult.
Organisations, predominantly educational institutions, have to cultivate a process through
which value can be generated from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets.
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Organizations have recognized that ―knowledge is a strategic supply that gives them a‖
sustainable competitive advantage and helps them accomplish their long term organizational
goals. The realization that knowledge is the key driver behind organizational accomplishment
comes from the need to respond to markets, which are becoming global and progressively
competitive, the stakeholders that are more cultured and challenging and an ever-increasing
rate of technological change. It is knowledge that helps organizations deal with these
encounters effectively. With the realization that knowledge is their core capability,
organizations are now endeavouring to manage knowledge in a more organized and effective
way using the latest advances in computer and information technology. Knowledge
management techniques and tools, a collection of processes or activities that helps
organizations harness knowledge, have been used by organizations to inspire the creation and
sharing of knowledge. It thus results in the improvement of efficiency, innovation,
attractiveness, as well as the association among people in those organizations.
Higher education in today‘s situation is subject to the same compressions of the marketplace.
The WTO provisions are coming into effect shortly and amplified competitions have pushed
higher education institutions to think commercial. Educational markets are becoming global
as institutions of higher education are trying to internationalize their programmes and offer
high-quality programs to students, regardless of their geographical location. They are also
facing higher competition for a portion of the student market, both local and international.
Moreover, they have to alter themselves and develop strategies to respond quickly to the
changes in technologies and the increasing demands of stakeholders. Indian universities and
institutes of higher learning are trying to get a suitable market share in this global education
market. Some of the Institutions have already established their campuses abroad. In this new
millennium, knowledge is power and more knowledge is within persons, more than in
registers. Consequently, knowledge management is required in higher education.
HEIs are knowledge-based organizations in nature. In such an organization, communities
obtain knowledge and skills they need from many different bases, within and out of the
institutions. They flexibly share their own knowledge and skills with others, for they
recognise that they are all employed in a non-profit academic community for the
development of the society. It may well be found that the need of today‘s ―knowledge
worker cannot be sufficiently addressed by the university as one knows it today, and that‖
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new components should be introduced into institutions of higher learning to fill the
broadening vacuum, developing between traditional higher education and the demands of
5
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today‘s knowledge concentrated workplace. Such an element is ―Knowledge Management
in Higher Education as an essential system with the holistic obligation to all the‖
constituencies of the university. HEIs have noteworthy opportunities to apply knowledge
management practices to upkeep every part of their mission. HEIs should not strike
Knowledge management as a fundamentally new idea. The problem generally is that, it is
such a comprehensive area of study that it is problematic to understand the consequences of
knowledge management for an educational setting.
Knowledge Management encompasses much more, going beyond the intrinsic knowledge
industry of colleges and universities. Knowledge Management comprises the finding and
seizure of knowledge, the filtering and preparation of this knowledge, and the value derived
from sharing and using this knowledge all over the organization. It is this “organized
complexity of a collaborative work to share and use information that contact all aspects of‖
an institution, which marks the operative use of knowledge.
The progress of technical education in India has been very rapid in the last era. Private
contribution in higher technical education has been stimulated by government regulatory
bodies which have seen manifold expansion in the accessibility of technical education.
However, this has led to a severe shortage of qualified faculty members in almost all
institutions. Institutions are becoming ‗Factories‘ instead of being holy places like a temple.
The governing bodies, though, have framed recommendations for various infrastructures,
faculty members and other resources, in many cases these have been exceptionally violated
leading to inferior education, further concluding in unemployment to the students. These
have also been coupled with the fast changing requests of industries, which are demanding
more and more from the graduates. Institutions are incapable of changing in tune with the fast
changing industry, which marks a clear cut gap between ―expectations and ―availability .‖ ‖
Most of the time, institutions are reiterating the work of another institution / faculty members,
because it is not well documented, or they do not keep track of it. Success in a progressively
competitive market depends critically on the quality of knowledge which the organization
puts on in its work.
Knowledge Management creativities in an organization often involve one or all of the
following aspects:
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7 Identifying and creating knowledge
6
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• Sharing and transferring knowledge
• Storing knowledge through document management
• Applying knowledge
• Evaluating knowledge
Institutions must produce value from the intellectual capacity of the faculty members and
their knowledge-based assets. Every organization needs a very good system administration to
make Knowledge Management successful. Implicit knowledge is highly multifaceted, as
compared to the quantitative form it usually takes and is hard to extract, as opposed to
explicit knowledge. Knowledge is initiated by individuals, but it is embodied in teams and
organizations. In an organization, examples of explicit knowledge are strategies, procedures,
patents, methodologies, products, and services. Examples of implicit knowledge in an
organizational context are skills and proficiencies, experiences, relationships within and
outside the organization, individual opinions and values, and ideas. Information and
communication technology (ICT) enhances and supports knowledge processes (Seufert et al
1999). The task in knowledge management is to make the right knowledge accessible to the
right people at the right time. Knowledge management helps in augmenting an institution‘s
ability and capacity. The value of knowledge management transmits directly to the efficiency
with which the managed knowledge enables the members of the institution to deal with
today‘s situation and effectively create their future, since being efficient without being
effective leads to disaster. Institutions which can reconsider their future based on the best
practices and value additions can undoubtedly be ahead of others by doing the right thing
today. Changing industrial trends, competition from other institutions, society and
government regulations, etc. make the current performance obsolete more rapidly compared
to earlier days. Institutions must prepare well in advance to ride the next wave of fluctuations
so that the product ―students are highly employable.‖
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CHAPTER 8
RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
8.1 GENERAL
The findings of the current research, which has followed the case
methodology have been discussed for the following areas:-
4 Competency based education and training implemented in
an automotive company.
4 Competency based engineering education implemented in a
polytechnic and an engineering college.
4 Integration of the competency management framework with
the enterprise management system
4 Overall business results
Analysis of the research results were done using Hypothesis
testing (2T test, paired T test, Chi-square test, ANOVA etc.), Stratified box
plot / histogram, and Scatter diagram/correlation/Regression. A short
description of the tools used for analysis is given in Appendix A.8.1.
8.2 COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The structured process developed as part of this research was used
to implement role and competency based education and training, initially in
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169
the engineering and sales & service functions of the automotive company,
covering three fourths of the employees. Later, this was extended to other
functions such as Human Resources Development, Industrial Relations,
Information Technology and Finance. Table - 8.1 shows the number of
competencies, and the number of courses identified, developed and covered.
For the engineering functions 94%, and for the marketing functions 78% of the
identified courses have been established. Most of the courses were developed
and delivered by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from the respective line
functions. The courses were developed using an instructional design process
that was developed as part of this research.
Table 8.1 Coverage of competencies and courses by function
SL No of
No of No of
%Functions courses courses
No competencies Identified developed Covered
1 Engineering functions-R&D, AEG, PED, QAD, 18 82 77 94%
Purchase, Opns
2 Sales & Service 13 9 7 78%
The line managers in engineering functions were trained to assess
engineers for the relevant competencies. The Learning Management System
(LMS), which was piloted with selected managers, assesses every employee
against the competencies required for the current role. Targets were then set
considering competencies in both the current and the next roles. LMS was used
for competency assessment and capturing learning needs for the engineering
and marketing functions along with the annual performance management cycle.
Using the training needs captured from LMS, a quarterly training
calendar was prepared and the training programmes were delivered. Table 8.2
shows the progress made in the last two years, the number of employees
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covered for 100% of the training needs and the number of employees covered
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for 50% of the training needs for the roles. Employees covered for 50% of the
training needs in most functions is above 70%. The employee cover for 100%
of the training needs to be addressed during 2014-15. Courses for other
functions are being developed and are expected to be ready during 2014-15.
Table 8.2 Number of employees covered for 100% and 50% of the
programmes for the role
Sl. No of
No.of Cover for Cover for Cover for Cover for
Function employees 100% 100%of 50% 50%
No roles
of programs programs of programs of programs
No of % of No of % of
Employees Employees Employees Employees
1 Research & 24 257 26 13 155 79
Development
2 Advanced 8 26 2 5 30 77
Engineering
3 Production 16 66 7 9 67 83
Engineering
4 Quality Assurance 16 62 9 10 59 67
5 Central Purchase 12 44 10 23 38 86
6 Manufacturing- 12 304 4 1 278 82
Operations
7 Product Service 4 99 0 0 6 10
8 Sales 4 100 85 35 90 90
Over the last 10 years, a structured process has been established for
nominating engineers to pursue a full time master’s course. This process was
further fine-tuned to identify the most appropriate universities and courses,
based on the gaps in competency in key functions. In order to improve
employees’ competencies for developing advanced technology for future
strategic projects, they have been nominated for PhD programmes in the areas
of priority. In fact, the cumulative number of nominations for masters
programmes in the overseas universities and inland institutes has increased to
178 as shown in Table 8.3 and PhD nominations has increased to 10 (Table
8.4).
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Table 8.3 Number of engineers nominated for higher studies
Year Till 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Nomination for Master courses -Overseas 54 59 69 72 75
Nomination for Master courses -in India 48 60 73 92 103
Table 8.4 Nomination of engineers for doctoral programmes
Year 2006 2010 2011 2013
Cumulative Overseas 0 2 2 5
Cumulative Inland 2 2 3 5
In addition to formal education and training in related disciplines,
mentors with domain expertise were sourced from Japan and European
countries which are leaders in automotive technology. In the last five years, 25
such mentors who were sourced just for the engineering functions, have helped
in solving some of the difficult problems and in developing new technologies.
The focused investment in education, training and mentoring has
reaped benefits with the engineers resolving several complex problems and
improving the performance and durability of the current products and
developing advanced technologies for new products. The engineers have so far
presented 85 research papers in international conferences held in India and
overseas (Table 8.5). The engineers have also come up with new design
concepts that they have developed for new products, and have filed for patents
for the same, which normally takes five years to get granted (Table 8.6).
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Table 8.5 Presentation of papers in international conference
Year Upto 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Cumulative No.of papers 53 65 76 80 85
Table 8.6 Cumulative patents filed and granted
Year Upto 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Cumulative
Patents 354 450 53S 586 589
Published
Cumulative Patents 30 52 69 77 119
granted
A specialists’ career track was established to motivate engineers to
get deeper in a narrow area of specialization which is of importance to the
organization. A specialists' career management process was prepared with
specific criteria for nomination, selection, role definition, reward and
recognition. A focused development of engineers in the last five years has
resulted in the selection of 20 engineers out of the 25 nominated. Table 8.7
shows the few areas of specialists selected.
Table 8.7 Sample of specialists areas
S.No Department Position Area of specialisation
1 AEG Lead Engineer Power Electronics and drives
2 PED Lead Engineer Fixture design for joining
3 AEG Lead Engineer Electrochemical devices
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8.3 COMPETENCY BASED ENGINEERING EDUCATION
PROGRAMME
The Collaborative Education Programme (CEP), established as a
part of this research was a unique experiment. It was the first of its kind in
India with an active collaboration between the Industry, Academia, Students
and Parents. An initial experiment was carried out in a polytechnic and an
engineering college, both located in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India.
The polytechnic programme has delivered three batches of students who have
been through a three year diploma programme in mechanical engineering. In
the engineering college, the first batch of undergraduate mechanical
engineering students will complete the programme and join the automotive
company in June, 2014. This approach has shown significant differences in the
way the students belonging to the CEP are motivated, get actively engaged and
perform in their academics when compared with their peers (Kovaichelvan
2014). The first batch of undergraduate program students in electrical and
electronics engineering will complete the programme and join the company in
June, 2015. While there are several common aspects between the polytechnic
and engineering college programmes, there are also a few differences. One
major aspect is the admission process. Admissions to the engineering colleges
are carried out by a single window approach in each state by the Technical
University. The process is merit based and uses a state wide rank list of
students’ marks in higher secondary school examinations. Whereas in the
polytechnic, the admission is done in the polytechnic itself on merit.
8.3.1 Diploma Programme in the Polytechnic
The students and parents in urban and semi-urban areas do not
consider a diploma programme as being aspirational. Even if they do join the
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programme, they consider it as a stepping stone to get lateral admission for an
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undergraduate programme in engineering. Hence, polytechnic education does
not attract top quality talent. The number of students who applied to the CEP
for the diploma programme was significantly lower in the first three years.
Then an outreach programme was conducted to attract the students from rural
areas. It took two years for the CEP to become popular among the parents and
students in the rural areas. With the outreach programme, the response to CEP
increased multifold and attracted students with the right aspiration and
commitment. Figure 8.1 shows the number of students who applied for the
CEP programme and the number of students who got selected.
Figure 8.1 Number of students applied and selected for the
diploma programme
As a result of CEP’s reach out initiative, the programme attracted a
large proportion of talented students from rural areas, who were in the top
percentile of the rural schools. They don’t score marks in the board
examinations on par with their counterparts in the urban/semi-urban areas as
they have constraints with regard to the quality of teachers, parents’ coaching,
and quality of peer group. It was found that the innate ability of students who
were selected for the CEP programme from the rural areas is improving with
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the outreach initiative. With a plan to get more CBSE students through the
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outreach program during next academic cycle, it is expected that the quality of
students selected would further improve. The mean motive and trait scores of
four batches of students over years is shown in Figures 8.2 and 8.3, indicating
that the quality of input in terms of quality of students is steadily improving
over the years. A hypothesis test was carried using one way ANOVA. As the
‘P’ value < 0.05, there is a significant improvement in the motive and trait
scores of students selected over years.
Figure 8.2 Mean motive score trend and hypothesis testing
Figure 8.3 Mean trait score trend and hypothesis testing
It was found that their academic performance steadily improved with
every batch, with the 2013 batch performing significantly better than any other.
There is only one data point for 2013 as the students are still in the first year
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(Figure 8.4).
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Mean Academi Score
Marks.Avg.2011 Batch 4 Marks.Avg.2012 Batch 5
Marks.Avg.2013 Batch 6
80.00
78
79
78.00
76.00
75
74 74
74.00 74
72
73
72.00
71
70.00
Sem 1 Sem 2Sem 3Sem 4 Sem 5
Semester
Figure 8.4 Academic performance of three batches
It was observed that the traits and motive scores were increasing
significantly along with the academic scores with each passing batch. Hence, a
regression analysis was carried out to check the correlation between them.
Figure 5.6 shows the fitted line plot between mean motive score and mean
academic score. A fair correlation can be observed between the mean motive
scores and academic scores of the students as the P value observed 0.005 with
R Square adjusted value of 49% at 95% confidence level.
Figure 8.5 Mean motive score vs academic mean
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177
Figure 8.6 shows the fitted line plot between the mean trait scores
and the mean academic scores. A fair correlation can be observed between
mean the trait scores and academic scores of the students as the P Value
observed 0.028 with R Square adjusted to a value of 31% at 95% confidence
level. The Mean motive score of a student has better co-relation with the
academic score than with the trait score.
Figure 8.6 Mean motive score vs mean academic score
Figure 8.7 Correlation of academic vs traits vs motive score
From Figure 8.7 it is also evident that there is a correlation of
Academic vs Traits vs Motive score.

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Academic performance of CEP diploma students was compared with
that of the other diploma students in the polytechnic (2011 batch and 2012
batch). The mean academic scores as well as Standard Deviations (SD) of the
CEP students were found to be significantly better than that of the other
students in the polytechnic (Figures 8.8 and 8.9).
Figure 8.8 Academic scores and standard deviations of CEP 2011
students vs others
Figure 8.9 Academic scores and standard deviations of CEP 2012
students vs Peers

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The Positive health program established for CEP students is showing
a positive trend over years. A health index was co-created with Svyasa
University and an applied psychologist, based on dimensions such as Physical,
Mental, Social, Spiritual and Vocational wellbeing (Appendix A.4.32) was
applied to the students, as discussed in the previous chapter. The health index
of the 2011 batch was measured in May 2012 and May 2013 along with their
academic scores in the corresponding year. The distribution of the health
indices and academic scores are shown in the Figure 8.10. It is evident that both
the health indices and the academic performances improved in one year. This
measurement was started a year back and with availability of more data points
in the next two years, it will be possible to check the co-relation between the
health indices and academic performances of the CEP students.
.
Figure 8.10 Health indices and academic performances of CEP
diploma students

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On completion of the academic program, the CEP diploma students
worked on three projects aligned to their target roles. Using their performance
in these projects, a Role readiness score was arrived at – A maximum of a 150
points can be obtained with a weightage of 50 assigned for achieving project
outcome, 25 for behavioural competency assessment, 25 for adherence to
process, 25 for functional competency, 25 as internal marks. The students who
met a minimum score of 70% were qualified for the role. A final review of
each student was carried out by a team comprising the HOD (Head of the
department) of the polytechnic, line managers, and programme manager for
CEP. The role readiness score of 2011 batch is shown in Table 8.8.
Table 8.8 Role readiness score CEP 2011 batch
Project Behavioural
Adherence
Functional
Internal Total
%
Sl. Roll Deliverable Assessment Competency
(Required Rank
PASS -
No. Number Achievement Score
to Process
Score
Marks(OJT) (Max
first time(Max 25) (Max 25) 150) 70%
(Max 50) (Max 25) (Max 25) Minimum)
1 10MS25 45 24 19 21 24 132 88 1 PASS
2 10MS13 43 23 21 20 24 131 87 2 PASS
3 10MS29 42 22 23 19 24 130 87 2 PASS
4 10MS27 43 23 24 18 20 128 86 3 PASS
5 10MS22 43 23 20 19 23 127 85 4 PASS
6 10MS10 41 21 24 19 22 127 85 4 PASS
7 10MS03 42 24 19 20 22 127 85 4 PASS
8 10MS15 40 22 24 18 21 126 84 5 PASS
An engagement survey is conducted every year using a third party in
the company. The demographics of the respondents is captured during the
survey, with which it is possible to get the score of any segment of people
whose number is more than ten. The first batch of engineers from the
polytechnic have participated in the survey and their scores are shown in
Figure 8.11. The CEP diploma engineers’ engagement score is better than the
company score and peer score.

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Figure 8.11 Engagement score of CEP 2008 vs peer and company
The performance management system in the organization uses the
following five point performance rating scale:
EP – Exemplary performance
6 – Exceeded Expectations
ME – Met expectations PM
– Partially met
NM – Not met expectations
Every employee has six targets for each year. Based on the
achievement of these targets, a performance rating is established. Figure 8.12
shows the distribution of performance ratings achieved by CEP diploma
engineers and their peer group (other polytechnic students). 56% of CEP
engineers obtained the top two performance ratings (EP&EE) as compared to
25% for their peers, in the 2008 batch. Top two performance rating of CEP
engineers accounts for 59% as compared to 28% for peers in the case of 2009
batch.

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Figure 8.12 Performance rating distribution for 2008 and 2009 batch
In order to accomplish sustainable high performance, a workshop
was conducted for goal setting. When six targets are decided for each year, the
employees aim to achieve the targets. Unless the employee aims to accomplish
more than what is expected by the company or the manager, achieving a
performance rating of EP (Exemplar performance) or EE (Exceeded
expectation) is not possible. During this workshop, the CEP engineers were
oriented to set their own goals higher than what was expected

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of them. Appendix A.8.2 shows a sample target setting form where a ‘self
target’ was established by the CEP engineers. This was shared with their
managers with whom they also articulated the means of achieving the targets.
The reviews of two batches by the end of the financial year showed that CEP
students surpassed several targets.
8.3.2 Undergraduate Programme in the Engineering College
Admission for the undergraduate programme is administered by the
state government through a Single window system that is managed by the
Technical University of the state. This university computes a cut-off mark
based on scores in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry with a weightage of
100, 50 and 50 respectively. Based on the cut off marks, the university ranks all
the students who apply for engineering programmes in the state, and then holds
a counselling session for the parents and students to pick their choice of
institute and branch of study. For the CEP, the students were selected after their
first semester, based on their consistent academic performance, technical tests
and assessment of innate abilities. The engineering college attracts students
with a minimum score 195 out of 200 in the higher secondary school
examinations. On the day of admission at the engineering institute, an
orientation session regarding the CEP is conducted for the parents and students
of mechanical engineering and electrical &electronics engineering
programmes. Active recommendation by the first few batches of CEP students
is generating a good response for the CEP. Hence the quality of students
selected for the CEP programme has steadily gone up in the last two years,
which is evident from the steady increase in the cut off marks of the selected
students (Figure 8.13).

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Figure 8.13 Mean cut-off marks of selected students vs the rest
It was observed that the mean trait score of the selected students is
getting better over the years as shown in the Figure 5.13. A hypothesis test was
carried out and found that for P <0.05, there is a significant improvement in
mean trait scores over years.
Figure 8.14 Mean trait score trend
The Figure 8.15 shows the mean cut off marks and CGPA at the end
of the seventh semester of the CEP students and also those of the other
students. Clearly, even though there is no significant difference between the
students selected for CEP based on the cut off marks, the academic
performance of CEP students is significantly better than that of the rest of the
students.

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Figure 8.15 Cut off marks and CGPA of CEP students vs the rest
Figure 8.16 shows the cut off marks of CEP students vs the rest of
the students for the 2010 and 2011 batches. In both the batches, when P>0,05,
there is no significant difference in the cut off scores of CEP students and those
of the rest.

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Figure 8.16 Mean cut off marks of CEP 2010 and CEP 2011 batches
vs rest
The Figure 8.17 shows the mean CGPA of the CEP students of the
2010, 2011, and 2012 batches as compared with that of the rest of the students.
It was found that the CEP students consistently perform better than their peers
in terms of mean CGPA and standard deviation. Since P <0.05 , there is a
significant difference in the mean scores of the CEP students in 2010, 2011 and
2012, as compared with those of the rest of the students . (Both academic
scores and standard deviations are better for CEP students compared to rest of
the class at 95% confidence level.)
Figure 8.17Batch to batch to comparison of CGPA score

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The relative performance of the CEP students with respect to that of
the rest of the students in the same programme was reviewed for each semester.
The performance of the CEP students was consistently better in every semester,
and this held true for every batch also. This proves that the CEP students
consistently outperform their peers.
Figure 8.18 Mean GPA and standard deviation by semester
Behavioural programmes were designed such that the assessment is
carried out prior to the programme and post the programme to check their

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learning. Figure 8.19 shows the pre-test and post-test scores. It is evident that
the post test scores are significantly better.
Figure 8.19 Pre-test and post-test score of behavioural programs
8.3.3 Evaluation of Positive Health
According to Vedanta and Yoga philosophy, people possess three
types of gunas, or intrinsic personality traits, namely Tamasic, Rajasic and
Satvic. Tamasic means being lethargic or sleepy, Rajasic means excited overly
and active, Satvic means centred and focused. The CEP students’ physical
wellbeing was evaluated using a questionnaire developed by Svyasa
University. This was adopted as one of the dimensions of evaluating physical
health. It is possible to validate the observations by observing the students
periodically. Figure 8.20 shows how the students start being Tamasic in the
first year. This guna comes down over the years and gradually the Rajasic
gunas increase. Developing a Satvic guna requires considerable efforts and a
high level of self-awareness.

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Figure 8.20 Number of students possessing three types of gunas
Figure 8.21 shows the health index of the undergraduate students of
the 2010 batch, measured in Nov 2011, Mar 2013, and Aug 2013. It can be
seen that there is a positive shift in their health index over these periods.
Consequently, their academic scores also improved steadily.
Figure 8.21 Health index for the 2011 batch of undergraduate students

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8.4 ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
For training and implementing an enterprise management system,
over 250 senior managers were trained in the TQM way of thinking and
management processes. A Business Process framework is being developed for
production management, retail management and product development. As part
of this framework, structured training programs are being developed by teams
for cascading this to all levels.
As part of the enterprise management system, a certification
framework was introduced for structured problem solving, using tools and
techniques. Two proficiency levels were established - Green belt (GB) and
Black belt (BB). The employees were initially nominated for the GB
programme and later for the BB programme. This starts with training followed
by the implementation of a challenging project. Formal evaluation of the
engineer’s learning and project execution is done by a panel and only then
recommended for certification. The number of employees covered for GB and
BB training is shown in Table 8.9.
Table 8.9 Number of employees trained and certified for GB and BB
Cumulative No. people trained in GB and BB
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Green Belt 88 198 328 490 525
Black Belt 15 30 52 116 116
This research led to the development of an integrated enterprise
competency model. This requires integration of competencies across
individuals, roles, business processes, and organizational processes (Figure
5.21).

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Figure 8.22 Enterprise competency model
A role based competency development model was deployed and is
now getting matured and institutionalized in the company. Structured business
processes, especially for the production system, product development system
and retail system are being developed and will be integrated with the role based
competency development. The new production system was deployed in two of
the manufacturing plants in the company. Significant improvements were
accomplished in the plants. With the success of these pilots, this system is
being deployed in other plants as well. The product development system was
developed and integrated with the IT system which consists of ‘Product
Lifecycle Management’ and the ‘Project system’. A full scale pilot is being
planned for one of the new product development projects. The retail system
was defined and piloted in two of the states with a task force. A dealer
management system has been developed in which the dealer HR processes
have been defined.

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8.5 OVERALL BUSINESS RESULTS
New product development is one of the key business processes for
driving business growth. In a highly competitive environment, there is a need
to periodically and proactively respond to customer needs with adequate
numbers of new products, upgrades and refreshes of existing products. These
products must have an attractive quality in terms of significantly better
performance, visual appeal in terms of style, superior fit and finish and new
features. This was possible only with competencies at an individual level,
adherence to the rigor of New Product Development (NPD) process and by
keeping the target customers in mind. Hence, this requires collaborative
working with a well-connected IT system. Table 8.10 shows the number of
new products delivered over the last three years an plan for the year 2014-15.
The company is able to sustain its market share despite competing with global
leaders.
Table 8.10 Cumulative new products delivered over years
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014(Plan) Complexity
index
New
products 1 1 1 5 1
Upgrade 2 0 3 4 0.7
Refresh 5 2 9 7 0.3
Total 8 3 13 16
New
products 1 1 1 5
Upgrade 1.4 0 2.1 2.8
Refresh 1.5 0.6 2.7 2.1
Total index 3.9 1.6 5.8 9.9
The company was able to accomplish significant improvements in
several product performance criteria such as fuel efficiency, emission, NVH
(Noise, Vibration, Harshness), Fit & Finish, comfort etc. As an example,

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improvements carried out in Fit & Finish over the last five years is shared here.
Fit & Finish is a complex and difficult area to deal with as it involves
alignment of several functions in the company and with suppliers. This requires
different areas of domain expertise in style design, detailed design, forming,
joining and injection moulding which is critical for Fit &Finish. In a
competitive environment, visual appeal of the product is considered to be
important for the customer. Towards this, a Fit & Finish group was created in
the R&D function. This function is responsible for not only defining standards
for Fit &Finish but also for the process of achieving the expected target. The
Fit &Finish team evolved an objective static vehicle evaluation method by
demerit scoring (Quantitative ratings which are less subjective in nature) that
applies customer expectations in the areas of visual and tactile. This is called
Final Vehicle Product Audit (FVPA) score. Using this method, the FVPA score
is applied to vehicles designed and developed over years.
Leveraging the competencies of several employees across functions
and suppliers as well, and by managing the process for improving the score, the
team was able to significantly reduce the score in the products developed in the
last five years (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5) as shown in Figure 8.23.
Figure 8.23 Final vehicle product audit score

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As a part of the enterprise management system, the production
system was devised and defined (as discussed in the Chapter 4). This system
was piloted in one of the manufacturing plants of the automotive company.
Daily work management was established by standardizing work and training
was provided to all the employees to carry out stanardised work with rigor.
This had a significant impact: as measured in the last three years
7 Vehicle delivery level improved from 83% to 95% and
variation reduced from 8.3 to 2.7 (Figure 8.24).
7 Vehicle rework level was reduced from 3.5 to 2.8 and variation
was reduced from 0.7 to 0.5 (Figure 8.25).
7 Inventory was reduced from a peak of Rs 10.6 Cr to 7.6 Cr and
Inventory turn was reduced from 44 to 85 (Figure 5.25).
Figure 8.24 Vehicle delivery performance improvement in one of
the plants

195
Figure 8.25 Vehicle rework reduction and reduction of fluctuation
Figure 8.26 Inventory reduction value and Improvement in
inventory turns
An annual employee engagement survey was carried out in the
company by a third party. The engagement score has four factors such as
emotional commitment, rational commitment, discretionary effort and intent to
stay. There are four engagement drivers such as organization culture, training
and development, leadership and manager effectiveness. The score for training
and development has improved from 5.25 during 2011 to 5.42 during 2013.

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At the middle and senior levels, high potential people were identified
and developed through the leadership development process in order to prepare
them to succeed in leadership positions. Succession plans were prepared for all
the key roles with potential successors for the next normal term, which is about
three years, and for the long term, which is about seven years. The
development of high potential managers happens 70% on the job through job
rotations, 20% through critical projects and 10% through formal training.
Career templates were prepared with clear paths through which the
development of managers can happen. Some of the results in this area include:
• No. of employees identified as high potential in 2013 : 392
• No. of employees attended DC (Development centre) 2010-13 :
350
• No. of employees undergone job rotation 2010-13 : 287
• No. of employees attended leadership programs 2010-13 : 233
• Percentage of roles where succession cover >100% : 90%
The leadership pipeline has become stronger at the middle and
senior levels due to consistent investment in competency development, both in
the functional area and in the leadership area. In the last few years, any new
roles or current role vacancies are being filled up by the internal pipeline.
8.6 CHALLENGES FACED IN IMPLEMENTATION
Implementing a role based competency development framework in a
large organization with multiple functions and competencies, as well as
implementing competency based engineering education in sixty year old
educational institutions was not an easy task. Several challenges had to be
overcome for implementation and for realizing the results.

197
• Influencing line managers and subject matter experts to
contribute for such long term competency management projects
which will not deliver results for today’s issues. Once they
realised the benefits, they were comfortable to contribute.
• Having the required band width of managers in the HR’s
training team with the required perspective.
• Creating an awareness and understanding in every employee
about the roles, competencies, courses, and explaining how
formal education and training can make a difference in their
role effectiveness. Mentoring them to articulate their aspiration
and making them own their own development.
• Following the structured process in spirit for development and
delivery of the courses by the teams and learning facilitators.
• Influencing the academic institutions to respond in terms of
appropriate talent for the competitive environment faced by
companies,
• Reconstituting governance bodies like board of studies, and
academic councils with members who are pro-reform oriented.
• Attracting, engaging and retaining high quality faculty for
engineering institutions, especially in the polytechnics.
• Establishing a clean and orderly environment in the educational
institutions to prepare students for enterprise management
systems in companies.
• Engaging CEP engineers, raising the bar and realising superior
performance to realise their potential.

198
• Integrating and practicing the tenets of the enterprise
management system across the organization in spirit to realise
superior business impact.
8.7 CONCLUSION
The results of the research were significant considering the scope of
dealing with competency of individuals and that of the organization.
Competency management was one of the key initiatives of the company. This
research brought focus and acceleration for competency development.
Developing this framework across the various functions and roles in a large
organization required an enormous amount of effort. This was instrumental in
helping the organization cope with the intense competition.
The Collaborative programme offered more freedom to experiment
and had a better influence on the factors. This has resulted in superior results
with regard to the quality of engineers developed through CEP, as seen in the
results. The bottom up transformation, right from outreach, selection, cultural
orientation, competency based development, internships and projects is found
to be more powerful with the CEP than the top down transformation in the
companies.
Following are the key insights that have been derived from this
research:
• Effective management of competency requires a systems
approach as shown in Chapter 5, with a clear understanding of
input, process and output. It is necessary to address all the
relevant factors of competency and their alignment in order to
create a significant impact on the organization. Generally,

199
technical outputs are managed by the process owners. System
output is important from other stakeholders point of view.
• Developing the competency of fresh engineers employed by the
company with a weak foundation from schools and colleges
requires significant efforts. There is a wide variation in the role
readiness of such engineers, depending upon them and their
managers.
• All the roles and associated competencies must be addressed
for development of employees through their career life cycle.
Eventually, employees must be ready for the role atleast 60%
prior to moving to the new roles.
• The Collaborative programme has been relevant in addressing
following few factors effectively:
o Monitoring the quality of incoming students in the
institutions of higher learning is an important step in
developing capable and competent employees for a business
enterprise.
o Outreach is useful to attract raw talent from rural areas with
the right aspirations with which competency can be
developed.
o Human beings are too complex to be selected using a
narrow set of criteria such as rote memory or academic
performance alone. Selection criteria for the programme
must be aligned to their innate ability or aptitude
appropriate to the roles.

200
o It is necessary for students to articulate their aspirations for
their career and life in order to get engaged during their
studies. CEP students had better clarity about the
organization they have chosen and the role for which they
are being developed. This made a big difference in their
engagement and performance.
o Having the right foundation in mathematics and the
sciences is essential to learn engineering and for any other
higher education.
o The involvement of all the stakeholders in setting
objectives, understanding the context and co-creating the
programme to deliver the objectives is very much aligned to
organizational outcomes.
o Structured development of academic programmes, courses,
pedagogy, evaluation, review and improvement made a
significant difference.
o Even though the programme can still be generic, streams of
electives, internships and projects can address the
preparation for specific roles.
o With better competency levels found in the CEP students,
managers need to raise the bar to realise better performance
in the company. Until a critical mass of CEP students are
on-board, who are able to perform significantly better, it is
necessary keep their morale high by constantly reviewing
their performance and by offering support.

201
• Competency management must be integrated with the
enterprise management system to maximise the business
impact.
• A clear shared vision is required to energise employees for
them to get engaged and deliver high performance.
• A conducive culture in terms of ethics, values and the TQM
way of thinking can become an accelerator for the execution of
the right strategies.
• Business processes play a major role in integrating
competencies of individuals to deliver better results.
• Organizational processes integrate several business processes
and individual competencies for major business results.
• All these demand behavioural / leadership competencies like
communication, interpersonal relationship, team-working, and
change management skills across the organization.
• Embedding these processes with the physical systems and IT
systems will lead to effective practice of enterprise
management system.
With this research, the competency management system has been
institutionalized in the large company of a group of companies and in two
educational institutions. This model is now being implemented in another
company in the group and three more educational institutions. It was found that
the time taken to implement the framework in another area has significantly
reduced along with it being more rigorous.

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8.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Despite this research achieving significant results, there are few
limitations to realise the full potential of such journey.
• Establishing a holistic competency management system at an
enterprise level covering individuals, functions and business
processes require significant efforts and time. For example,
developing a competency management system by this research
took over six years with active involvement of the researcher,
training team and line managers. It will take two more years to
cover all the functions and implement the enterprise
management system fully. Similarly it took over six years to
implement competency based engineering education in the
polytechnic and it will take two more years to implement the
known improvements. Organisations need to have a vision, set
a road map, commit and sustain high intensity efforts before
they are able realise the full impact. This would also call for
continuity of the champion and team part of this journey to till
realising the vision through such a long journey.
• Implementation of competency based curriculum is being
carried out in five institutions. This require high investment in
terms of financial and human resources from the organisation.
Not many organisation would come forward to do this. Hence
this model is not scalable. If the educational institutions takes
initiative, set a vision, implement outcome based curriculum
aligned to industry, then there is an opportunity to collaborate
with not just one company but with several companies. Such a
model if it works, it will become a scalable model. One of the

203
engineering colleges has decided to implement outcome based
curriculum. The scholar is mentoring the institution to
implement a model co-created with stake holders including
thirty companies.
• While academic results were easily compared between the CEP
students versus the peer group, a similar comparison is not easy
for engineers in the company. This is due to variation in
understanding and execution of roles, goal setting across wide
range of roles and organisational priorities of projects/
assignments adherence to established processes.
• Variation in assessment of functional competency across roles,
competencies and many managers result in variation.
Assessment is carried out in a Development centre for
leadership competencies which is defined three levels across all
roles in the organization. Planning to develop an assessment
centre concept for the functional competencies that cut across
roles and functions.
• There is no one way of ‘Apply’, ‘Analyse’ and ‘Create’, as
there are more than one right answer. Hence, evaluation of
higher cognitive process dimensions at the faculty level with
limited industry and product exposure is a challenge.
• Current academic system is not amenable for integrating
behavioural competencies or professional skills in the academic
programme and evaluation. These competencies cannot be
learnt separately and practiced.

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8.9 FUTURE SCOPE OF RESEARCH
Even though the role based and competency based education and
training framework has been implemented in the company, the proportion of
employees qualified 100% for the courses for the role is insufficient at the
moment. Once this number goes up, it will be possible to establish the effect of
competency on the role effectiveness of employees. Currently, employees
move to the next role and learn what it takes to do the role. It is possible to
prepare the employees for the next role, which will reduce the time taken to
achieve role effectiveness. With better preparedness and competencies, the
employees’ productivity can go up significantly. It is essential to implement a
similar model for blue collar employees who play a significant role in
delivering consistent quality, delivery and productivity.
In an automotive company, throughput is determined the weakest link in the
supply chain. The current courses relevant to the supplier will be offered for
employees of the supplier. Complete mapping of the suppliers, roles,
competencies needs to carried out and existing courses can be aligned and
offered. Similarly, an appropriate model must be developed for the dealers who
sell and service the vehicles. A separate organisation is set up for Dealer HR
and a framework for implementing HR activities for dealerships is being
established. Courses have been established for Dealer owners, Sales Managers,
Workshop managers and Sales executives. Two community colleges have been
established to develop competent sales and service talent based on the CEP
model of the research.
Despite the CEP yielding significant results, there is still scope for
improving the rigor of the academic process recommended by this research.
One of the challenges encountered was in mentoring the students and make

205
them understand their innate abilities and articulate aspirations in terms of
career goals and life goals. They lack perspectives and awareness about
possibilities. Improved academic rigor and structured mentoring can
significantly improve the potential and performance of the students further.
Defining and deploying an enterprise system and integrating
roles, competencies, business processes and management processes is the
most complex task. A new facility has been created for an integrated
learning across roles and competencies. This facility currently offers
functional and behavioural training programmes for the employees. This
center will have dedicated facility for training employees on the culture,
business processes and organizational processes of the company in a
simulated environment with role plays. If this can be done with rigor, there
would be a significant impact on the organization, leading to sustainable
competitive advantage.

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