I recently came across a research report published by
Aberdeen Group on how companies are making use of Assessments to achieve key
business metrics. (The full report is available at http://www.piworldwide.com/Landing-Pages/Aberdeen-PIWW.aspx)
The graph below from that report is a survey of global
organizations that points out the reasons why organizations are using
assessments. In the Indian context, I feel all three are equally driving the
use of tools in different industries.
For e.g. the IT industry has seen a leadership
development as a challenge given attrition at the top level. Another
example would the changes impending for the retail industry with government’s
FDI policy. With reforms in the banking sector, the banking industry will also
see a business change as a pressure that will drive adoption of innovative
people practices. Given the nascent stages of various industries, the impact
foreign investors can make in India’s market, there are different reasons as to
why organizations might adopt science based assessments to manage talent.
The above reasons also point at big Indian business houses
like Reliance, Tata and how they need to look at talent when they enter various
businesses as they diversify. Indian companies that wish to sustain competition
in their own fields and also diversify into new fields, it’s important that
they have a process in place to identify leadership that’s needed to take on
these challenges. Does a new venture require different leadership style as
compared to a more mature organization? For e.g. how about Reliance’s
petrochemical division versus the new infotel broadband venture? These two
ventures require different styles of leadership but how are companies
identifying these, is there a process in place to capture it.