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.