KEY IMPERATIVES OF TALENT MANAGEMENT - THE INDIAN IT AND ITES INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE * Naveen Kumar Bandari Research scholar,

Kakatiya Universiy, A.P., India Abstract The cultures of work and forms of organisation and management that have emerged with in the software services outsourcing industry are substantially different from those in old economy companies although there are also significant continuities. IT and ITES companies have imported a new age management ideology based on flat structures, lack of bureaucracy, openness, flexibility, and employee empowerment. But, due to the requirements of the outsourcing business, new forms of direct or panoptical control over the work process have also emerged, which are linked to the rationalisation of the work process through the application of modular programming techniques and international quality standards as an integral part of talent management. The research is conducted with an objective of finding the interrelationship between transparency of competition, equal opportunities for international assignments and work culture of the organisation. This research examines the concept of talent management from the perspective of the organizational climate and work climate. Structured interviews are conducted on 100 respondents of executive employees from It sector and 100 of ITES sectors of Andhra Pradesh state in India. Key words: Talent, Talent management, work culture and organisational climate

Introduction In order to soften the routinisation of work and the rigidity of process driven management, and to build employee loyalty and motivation, IT and ITES companies employ normative management techniques such as the inculcation of common values and emphasis on team work. This combination of direct and indirect modes of organisational control enables companies to maximise the productivity of employees. Another distinctive feature of work culture in the software outsourcing is the deployment of culture itself as a management tool and as a mechanism of control over labour. This is seen in the incorporation of employees into a strong corporate culture as a motivational strategy; in the deployment of cross-cultural management theories; and in cultural sensitivity training programmes. Work culture in IT and ITES sector is observed to be majorly influenced by the following aspects. i. ii. Competition and support in intra and inter teams Equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment.

The study presents influence of the above aspects individually in the organizations and their association/ relationship with work culture of the organizations in both IT and ITES sector. i. FAIRNESS AND TRANSPERANCY OF COMPETETION Situations and circumstances an employee comes across and experiences he faces in an organization will have impact on the opinions and perceptions an employee develops. Every employee in return expects being guarded safe, taken care of him and treated equally. Foreign assignments will also play an important role in the organization as every employee wants to gain foreign exposure but option cannot be provided to every employee. Hence, as sometimes employees may be discarded on some grounds which may lead to the difference of opinions and perceptions on the system, policies and on the organization. Whenever an employee of organisation feels he is treated equally and when there is no scope for disparities in the organization, he feels privilege and pride in associating with organization. Employee will certainly feel competitive in associating with organization and also realizes that he attains the best industry exposure and gains mastery of expertise and experience. The table-1 presents the opinions on fairness and transparency of competition.

TABLE-1 OPINION ON FAIRNESS AND TRANSPERANCY OF COMPETETION IT PARAMETERS No. Of Respondents 30 32 02 24 12 100 ITES No. Of Respondents 26 34 05 25 10 100 IT AND ITES No. Of Respondents 56 66 07 49 22 200

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree TOTAL

Source: Field Study

28 33 3.5 24.5 11 100

From the Table- 1 when asked about the Competition and support in intra and inter teams was always fair and transparent, 30 per cent of ITES respondents said Strongly Agree, 32 per cent said Agree, 02 per cent said Neutral, 24 per cent said Disagree and 12per cent opined Strongly Disagree. From the Table- 1, it is clear that the overall 26 per cent of ITES respondents opined Strongly Agree, 34 per cent said Agree, 05 per cent said Neutral, 25 per cent said Disagree and 10 per cent opined Strongly Disagree when they are asked about Competition and support in intra & inter teams was always fair and transparent. Overall, 28 per cent of the respondents said Strongly Agree, 33 per cent said Agree, 3.5 per cent opined Neutral , 24.5 per cent said Disagree and 11per cent said Strongly Disagree when asked about Competition and support in intra & inter teams was always fair and transparent. Majority of the employees in the IT and ITES sector feel that Competition and support in intra & inter teams was always fair and transparent. A considerable proportion of respondents in both IT and ITES sectors feel that the competition and support in intra & inter teams is not fair and transparent.

ii.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS International assignments in the IT and ITES organizations will enable the career

growth of every employee in the organization. It will provide an International exposure where in they can understand the process to the fullest and gain lot of experience and also sometimes this opportunity provides more economic benefits to the employees. While choosing the candidates, there is every possibility of favoritism and partiality and actual talent of the employees may or may not be considered. Organization should take care of these issues and identify the talent to ensure the disparities are not created. The Table-2 shows the support and equal opportunities for the international assignments. TABLE-2 OPINION ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS IT PARAMETERS No. of Respondents 29 46 02 22 01 100 ITES No. of Respondents 33 37 02 25 03 100 IT AND ITES No. of Respondents 62 83 04 47 04 200 Per Cent 31 41.5 02 23.5 02 100

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree TOTAL

Source : Field Study

From the Table- 2, when asked about the Every employee of the organization gets equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment, 29 per cent said Strongly Agree, 46 per cent said Agree, 02 per cent said Neutral, 22 per cent said Disagree and 01per cent opined Strongly Disagree . From the Table- 2, it is clear that the overall 33 per cent of ITES respondents opined Strongly Agree, 37 per cent said Agree, 02 per cent said Neutral, 25 per cent said Disagree and 03 per cent opined Strongly Disagree when they are asked about

Every employee of the organization gets equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment. Overall, 31 per cent of the respondents said Strongly Agree, 41.5per cent said Agree, 02 per cent opined Neutral, and 23.5 per cent said Disagree and 02per cent said Strongly Disagree when asked about Every employee of the organization gets equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment. International assignments in the IT and ITES organizations will enable the career growth of every employee in the organization. It will provide an International exposure where in they can understand the process to the fullest and gain lot of experience and also sometimes this opportunity provides more economic benefits to the employees. WORK CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE Work culture of the organisation is influenced by the relational frame work among the employees and the atmosphere prevailing in the organisation. Though all efforts are always synchronized towards the common objectives of organization, in a process of achieving those every employee will undergo many phases of emotions in dealing with intra and inter team members. Fairness and transparency of competition among the employees and equal opportunities are provided to employees will certainly develop trust on organisation. This will contribute to the cordial work culture and good organizational climate. The table- 3 illustrates the inter relationship between the factors of talent management. Factors taken for the study are: Transparency of competition in teams (X1) Equal opportunities and support for international assignment (X2) and Work culture and organizational climate in the organization (X3). For the purpose of calculation the above alternatives have expressed in terms of X1, X2, and X3. Survey data is placed below to find the correlation between factors which can represent the relation between variables of study.

TABLE- 3 WORK CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE TRANSPARENCY PARAMETERS OF COMPETITION (X1) Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree TOTAL Source: Field Study CORRELATION COEFFICIENT r(X1,X2) r(X1,X3) r(X2,X3) 0.97 0.78 0.83 22 49 7 66 56 200 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT (X2) 4 47 4 83 62 200 WORK CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE (X3) 5 6 1 88 100 200

PARTIAL CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (PCC) of X1, X2 & X3 r X1X2.X3 0.92

Correlation coefficient of r(X1.X2) is 0.97 that illustrates that there exists a good relation between the variables, which means there exists a positive relation between Fairness and transparency of competition in teams (X1) and equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment (X2).

Correlation coefficient of r(X1.X3) is 0.78 is close to +1, which is that illustrates that there exists a positive relation between Fairness and transparency of competition in teams (X1) and Work culture and organization climate in the organization (X3).

Correlation coefficient of r(X2.X3) is 0.83 is close to +1,that illustrates that there exists a good relation between the variables equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment (X2) and Work culture and organization climate in the organization (X3).

Partial correlation coefficient (pcc) of X1, X2 and X3 is 0.92 that illustrates that there exists a good relation between the variables fairness and transparency of competition in teams (X1), equal opportunity and support for foreign / international assignment (X2) and Work culture and organization climate in the organization (X3).

Conclusion: In ITES sector every employee of the organization gets equal opportunity for international assignments where as in case of IT sector this phenomenon is not observed and the opportunities for international assignments for the employees are not equal and biased. Fairness and transparency of competition in teams and equal opportunities for international assignment will foster the healthy environment in the organization. These factors are instrumental in building a congenial Work culture and organizational climate in both IT and ITES industry.

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