Project Report - MS Vyas - TPDDL - June 2010

Meenakshi S Vyas Page 1 of 78
Report On
“Competency Mapping and Skill-Gap
Analysis”
Submitted to –
Mr. S. K. Das,
HoD (Training), TATA Power Delhi Distribution Limited
(Formerly NDPL)
Submitted By:
Meenakshi S Vyas
June 2010

Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 3
OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................................ 6
CONCEPT OF COMPETENCY .......................................................................................... 9
COMPETENCY MAPPING – JOB and SKILL ANALYSIS ................................................ 18
CRITICAL REVIEW........................................................................................................... 35
OVERVIEW AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF NDPL...................................................... 40
STUDY OF TRAINING FUNCTION AT NDPL .................................................................. 49
METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................. 56
FINDING and ANALYSIS.................................................................................................. 66
CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................ 75

INTRODUCTION

In the modern competitive world, the business managers are required to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of our business operations. As there are several factors that
affect efficiency and effectiveness of operations, the improvement is required to be carried
out in every factor. To improve synchronization between different elements of business is
an important approach to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the operations.
The basic elements of business are:
External Elements
 Market
 Public infrastructure, support facilities and services
Internal Strategic Elements
 Technology
 Plant and machinery
Internal Operational Elements
 Management system
 Materials
 Technical manpower
 Managerial manpower
These elements should be in synch with each other for effective operations. Mismatch
between any of the two elements give rise to wastages of time, money and efforts, leading
to loss of effectiveness and efficiency. Manpower, technical and managerial, is the most
important resource of any organization. This most important resource is also the most
difficult to manage as no two persons are similar. Every person has different qualities,
attitude, motives, personality traits, skills, knowledge etc. which has effect on their
performance at work. Organizations, in order to facilitate excellence in the performance of
the people in the organization, are required to identify the right person for every job. This
matching between jobs and people is an important avenue for organizational improvement
efforts. HR professionals are entrusted with the responsibility for selection, training and
development, administration, deployment support, performance appraisal and performance

diagnostics of the employees. The most important part of these responsibilities is
assessment of the individuals for their suitability for different functional tasks, and
development of their “competencies” and potential to be effective and excel in the assigned
tasks. Currently most of the organizations are using personal interview, written tests and
group discussion for the purpose of assessment. However these methods have been found
to have severe limitations.
Over last century many different approaches have been employed for the purpose of
assessment. These approaches were mostly based on personality tests/ psychometric tests.
These tests have improved assessment of candidates but still the reliability of the test results
is not adequate to forecast effectiveness of the selected candidate for the job. Research
conducted by Industrial and organizational psychologists have found that effectiveness of a
person to carry out a job depends not only single or isolated factors but on set of many
different factors. Such set of factors that help the possessor to be effective in a particular
job is termed as competency for that particular job. HR function entrusted with the
responsibility to find right person for every job and development of the employed person to
do the assigned job effectively, have found competency mapping and assessment as a very
effective tool.
The following pages give a very effective way of mapping competencies required for the
specific technician level workforce of a “Power Distribution Utility” and methods of assessing
the competencies of the people.

OBJECTIVE

One of the hallmarks of leading edge organizations, be they public or private has been the
successful identification of training needs and implementation of applicable and relevant
training programs. This is further linked to the application of performance measurement to
gain insight into the development of competencies, and make judgments about, the
organization and the effectiveness as well as efficiency of its programs, processes, and
people which further helps in building the organizational competencies. However, leading
organizations do not stop at the gathering and analysis of performance data; rather, they
use performance measurement to drive improvements and successfully translate strategy
into action in line with the desired competencies of the organization. In other words they use
competency development and measurement for managing their organizations. In this
context of employee competency development has gained importance. It basically refers to
the framework provided in an organization which measures, rewards and hence facilitate
the development of competencies of the employees and help better performance focusing
on organizational as well as individual growth.
A typical Power Distribution Company (DISCOM) of the city of Delhi is selected in this case
and the competencies are understood by studying the required competencies as per the
strategic and operational plan of the of the organization and the skills actually possessed by
the grass root level technician grade workers. This project is an attempt to understand the
various components as well as the dynamics at work in a in a small set of work group in
relation with the competency identification and development and then extrapolating the
same to take actions for a substantially larger set of work group. For the purpose, the
competency development, the training processes of NDPL have been studied. In the
changing business scenario, NDPL has been continuously trying to introduce changes as
well as adopt new methods and processes to ensure the sustainable growth of the
organization. One such effort has been the attempt to graduate to competency identification
and development from the existing training need identification concept. The prime/ major
objective of the project is to understand the current levels of competencies and to identify
the gaps, problems/ difficulties in the “competency assessment and skill gap analysis” as
part of the overall training structure of NDPL (One out of the 03 power distribution companies
operating in North and North West Delhi which is a joint venture of TATA Power and Delhi
Government).

NDPL consists to two cadres of employees i.e. one from who are inherited from the erstwhile
DVB and another who are directly recruited by NDPL after the privatization. Since both the
cadre of employees belong to separate system of measurement of their performance, hence
the project aims towards understanding about the current competencies of the technicians
at NDPL, explore the perception and degree of desired competencies of employees of both
the structures (DVB and NDPL new structure) with the present, obtain the final required
competencies of a select group of technicians of a mix of both erstwhile DVB and NDPL
structure. Main findings of the study are to find the impact of the training imparted to the
technicians based on the gaps identified in the required and the current levels of the skills
as part of the overall competency development of the worker cadre employees.

CONCEPT OF
COMPETENCY

Definition
There are many different definitions for the competency; a simplest one among them is –
Competency for a job can be defined as a set of human attributes that enable an
employee to meet and exceed expectations of his internal as well as external
customers and stake holders.
It has been a general observation that hard work, sincerity, knowledge, intelligence alone
does not make a person star performer in his profession. There are other factors that help
an individual to excel in his job/ profession. All of us have noticed during our school days,
that the top scorer of a class is not always the most intelligent or the most hardworking
student of the class. We have also observed that top scorers from objective type of tests are
not able to hold their rank in descriptive type of tests. Similarly a good runner is not always
a good hockey player, as every game or sport needs different set of physical and mental
qualities to excel. Thus set of human qualities and/ or attributes that make a person a star
performer for a particular activity defines the competency for that particular activity.
Good managers are generally aware about different qualities a person must possess to do
a job effectively, and they make use of their knowledge to select and train their subordinates.
Organizational psychologists have studied and refined this understanding and converted it
into a structured and formal process thus making it available for business application.
In organizational and business context, competency required for a particular job depends
on many factors. The factors include social culture, nature of business, business
environment, organizational culture, work environment, organizational structure, duties and
responsibilities, nature of processes and assigned activities, attitude and motives of
colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Some of these factors may change with time, and
thus changing competency requirements for the same job position in the organization.
Competency for any job position at a particular time is a unique set and as organization has
many different job positions, managing many such sets is a difficult task. Hence for the
purpose of HR management, the job competency is divided into elemental competencies.
Elemental or Task competency

Elemental or task competency is an ability to do a particular type of task. A job consists of
many different types of tasks, thus requiring different elemental competencies. The
elemental competencies can be standardized, precisely differentiated, developed into a
model across the organization, and are easier to identify, study, understand, map, assess
and develop. Generally the competencies that we talk in HR are the elemental
competencies. Examples of elemental competencies are communication skills, business
skills, achievement orientation or drive, decision making, analytical skills etc.
Behavioral Indicators
The overall competency requirement for a job needs to be understood in terms of elemental
competencies which depend upon education, knowledge, training, experience, technical
and non technical skills, attitude, personal image etc. and some of these attributes are
difficult to objectively assess and measure.
However persons with high competency for a particular task demonstrate certain
logically associated behavior which can be used to identify the factors that make the
person highly competent for the task.
Behavioral indicator may be associated with different competencies. Hence presence of
complete set of behavioral indicators is indicative of the competency.
Another method to identify the elemental competencies required for a job is based on
analysis of the process and process activities assigned to the job. Both the methods have
their advantages and disadvantages, thus both the methods should be used for better
understanding of the competency requirements for the job.

Applications of Competency Mapping and Assessment Techniques
Competency mapping and assessment is a very important development for HR function. It
provides much needed objectivity to HR activities. With the help of tool like competency
mapping assessment role of HR and training has changed from support function to core
function. With competency based HR and training systems and programs HR/Training
function can directly contribute to organization effectiveness.
Business process focus and objectivity are the main advantages of the competency
based HR and training management systems.
Employee competency map is a very useful document following applications –
1. Candidate appraisal for recruitment
2. Employee potential appraisal for promotion or functional shift
3. Employee training need identification
4. Employee performance diagnostics
5. Employee self development initiatives
Candidate appraisal for recruitment
Selection of candidates for employment is very important decisions for any organization. A
wrong selection costs the organization in terms of recruitment costs, efforts, time and
opportunity. Whereas landing into unsuitable job is very painful and unsettling experience
for the candidate. Job position competency map provides clear guidelines and reliable
process for selection. Competency map for the job position and Assessment of candidate’s
for the required competencies gives comparatively reliable indication about suitability of the
candidate. The assessment also provides guidelines on the training needs for the candidate
if selected for the position.
Normally only core competencies are assessed for selection.

Employee potential appraisal for promotion or functional shift
Every job position requires different set of competency and hence an excellent performer in
junior position may not necessarily perform to the expectations when promoted to a senior
position. Also an average performer in a junior position may turn into a star performer when
promoted to senior position. Similarly a successful person in one department may turn out
to be unsatisfactory in another department and also a not so competent person in one
department may give excellent results in other department. Hence departmental shifts and
promotions need careful assessment of the competencies of the person with respect to the
required competencies of the new position.
It is recommended to assess core competencies for the promotion or functional shifts.
Employee training need identification
Competency mapping and assessment provides clear indication of employee’s
developmental needs. Candidate weakness with respect to the required competencies
discovered in the assessment shows opportunity for development of the candidate.
Employee competency assessment can be conducted periodically, preferably along with
performance appraisal, to identify developmental needs of every employee.
As competency based training need identification has direct relation with the employee
performance, effectiveness of training can directly be gauged through the assessment of
performance and competencies.
Generally core competencies are used for training need identification.
Employee performance diagnostics
Competency based assessment provides excellent understanding of performance
problems. Observed non performance of an employee can be due to factors that are out of
the control of the employee or due to lack of required competencies.
Employees those are not able to perform to the expectations should be assessed for core
as well as support competencies and any observed inadequacy should be carefully studied
to understand its effect before taking any remedial measures.

Employee self development initiatives
The competency map and behavioral indicators help individual to understand direction for
their own development. They can very easily identify the gaps and work on the
inadequacies. Performance appraisal with traditional method can assess the performance
with respect to set targets, but these appraisals do not guide for improving the performance.
Competency map very clearly and reliably guides the employees for self development. The
competency map indicates the competencies that are required for improved performance
and behavioral indicators shows the factors that build up the competency.
Organizations should develop a competency map document and make it available to all
employees for reference and study.

Understanding Job Positions
To map the competencies required for any job position in the organization, the job position
needs to be understood in the context of the business operation.
Business organizations are an important part of civil society. These organizations exist to
satisfy some social need. No organization can exist if it is not satisfying a social need. To
satisfy a social need organization has to carry out different types of tasks. Organizations
plan the activities and the responsibilities in such a way that similar type of activities requiring
similar resources and expertise are entrusted to the same employees or same group of
employees.
Apart from the tasks for carrying out the main business tasks, organization has to carry out
many other tasks to take care of it’s resources, culture, employees, social obligations,
governments requirements, shareholders expectations etc. Organization assigns all these
tasks to different employees and provides them support to carry out the tasks.
Hence every job position is a unique set of relationships, responsibilities, objectives and
assigned resources. Every job position should be clearly identified, analyzed, studied and
documented for identification of competencies associated with it.
Also for the purpose of analysis of the job positions, we have identified job factors which can
be used to study, analyze and understand the nature of the duties and responsibilities for
any job position. The job factors can be used for different applications including job design,
recruitment, training need identification, remuneration scheme design, organization
restructuring, competency mapping etc.
Job Factors
Job factors are distinctive characteristics of any job position which can be used to
understand nature of work activities and job responsibilities for the job position. These may
be listed as below –
 Envisioning
 Direction
 Organizing and planning
 Resources Mobilization
 Coordination
 Execution

 Human Interaction
 Technology
 Creativity
 Costs
 Value addition
Envisioning
Whether developing vision is part of the job under study? What is the extent and coverage
of envisioning requirement? The vision may be related to market servicing, operating
arrangement, technology development, facility planning etc. Envisioning is requirement of
Leadership and Managerial roles.
Direction
Whether directing business operation or policy formulation is the responsibility of the job
under study? What is the extent and coverage of direction requirement?
Formulating policy direction is requirement of Leadership and Managerial roles.
Organizing and planning
Whether the job involves identification of human and/ or material resources and assigning
these recourses? Whether the job involves planning and scheduling usage of resources,
controlling and monitoring usage of these resources? What is the extent and coverage of
organizing and planning? This is requirement of Leadership and Managerial roles.
Resources Mobilization
Whether the job involves preparation of the resources for use? What is the extent and
coverage of resources mobilization responsibility for the job? This involves proper
instructions to be issued to all concerned, ensuring serviceability of the resources and
ensuring required consumables and inputs are available.

Coordination
Whether the job involves interaction with other executives to ensure synchronization of
activities for effective and efficient utilization of available resources? What is the extent of
coordination requirement of the job?
Execution
What are the execution activities of the job? What is the kind of skills required to execute
the activities.
Human Interaction
What is the nature and extent of human interaction in the job within the organization? What
is the nature and extent of human interact ion outside the organization?
Technology
What is the nature of technological responsibilities for the job? What kind of technical
decisions are required to be made in discharge of the job responsibilities?
Creativity
Does the job require generation of Implementable options as apart of responsibility? What
is the scope to novelty and innovation the job provides?
Costs
What is the cost of the job? How much organizational cost the job controls and influences?
Value addition
How much value does the job adds in relation with other jobs?

COMPETENCY
MAPPING – JOB and
SKILL ANALYSIS

Job Analysis
Job analysis refers to the process of examining a job to identify its component parts and
circumstances in which it is performed. The critical concern for you as a job analyst should
be to treat jobs as units of organization. It acts as a tool which provides the information base
for a wide range of organizational and managerial functions. Job analysis consists of two
functions such as Job Description and Job Specification, which are closely related to each
other. Job description is a broad statement of the purpose, duties and responsibilities of a
job and job specification is a broad statement which specifies about the job holder, i.e.,
his/her qualification, experience required etc.
Competency Approach to Job Analysis
A skill is a task or activity required for competency on the job. Competency in a skill requires
knowledge, experience, attitude, and feedback. Performance assessment criteria clearly
define the acceptable level of competency for each skill required to perform the job. The
individual’s level of competency in each skill is measured against a performance standard
established by the organization. These competency skills are grouped according to a major
function of the occupation, and are presented in a two dimensional chart. Each skill has its
own set of “learning outcomes”, which must be mastered before a competency in the
particular skill is acknowledged.
Conceptually the competency based job analysis involves the following steps –
 Identification of major job functions;
 Identification of skills performed within each of the major job functions;
 Generation of several drafts to be reviewed by employers and employees and
modified to accurately reflect the skills performed on the job;
 Development of an occupational analysis chart. The chart is a two-dimensional
spreadsheet chart displaying the major job functions and skills; and
 Identification of performance standards for each skill using a competency-based
rating scale which describes various levels of performance.

Uses of Competency Approach in an Organization
Competency approach is a foundation upon which to build a variety of human resource
development initiatives. This adaptable, flexible, and scalable tool has been used for the
following benefits to the organization –
 provides a systematic approach to planning training
 customizes training delivery to the individual or organization
 evaluates suitability of training programs to promote job competence
 provides employees with a detailed job description
 develops job advertisements
 helps in personnel selection
 assists in performance appraisals
 targets training to skills that require development
 gives credit for prior knowledge and experience
 focuses on performance improvement
 promotes ongoing employee performance development
 identifies employee readiness for promotion
 guides career development of employees
 develops modular training curriculum that can be clustered as needed
 develops learning programes
Benefits of the Competency Approach
There are different approaches to competency analysis. While some competency studies
take months to complete and result in vague statements that have little relevance to people
in the organization but if done well they provide the following benefits to the organizations –
 Increased productivity;
 Improved work performance;
 Training that is focused on organizational objectives;
 Employees know up front what is expected of them;
 Employees are empowered to become partners in their own performance
 development; and
 The approach builds trust between employees and managers

One of the strong points of this approach is that it requires interaction between the employer
and the employee. The job analysis is a catalyst to meaningful discussion of job performance
because the employer and employee have a common understanding of expectations. This
is due to the explicit nature of the competency statements pertaining to the job. The fact that
the employee conducts a self-appraisal of performance and the employer must confirm this
assessment requires a counseling type of interaction to take place. The growth plan requires
input from the employer and the employee for its development and follow-up.
Competency Mapping
Competency approach to job depends on competency mapping. Competency Mapping
is a process to identify key competencies for an organization and/or a job and incorporating
those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training,
recruitment) of the organization. A competency is defined as a behavior (i.e. communication,
leadership) rather than a skill or ability.
The steps involved in competency mapping are presented below –
 Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete a position information
questionnaire (PIQ). This can be provided for incumbents to complete, or used as a
basis for conducting one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The primary
goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are the key behaviors necessary to
perform their respective jobs.
 Using the results of the job analysis, a competency based job description is
developed. It is developed after carefully analyzing the input from the represented
group of incumbents and converting it to standard competencies.
 With a competency based job description, mapping the competencies can be done.
The competencies of the respective job description become factors for assessment
on the performance evaluation. Using competencies will help to perform more
objective evaluations based on displayed or not displayed behaviors.
 Taking the competency mapping one step further, one can use the results of one’s
evaluation to identify in what competencies individuals need additional development
or training. This will help in focusing on training needs required to achieve the goals

of the position and company and help the employees develop toward the ultimate
success of the organization.
Methods of Competency Mapping
However, a number of methods and approaches have been developed and successfully
tried out. These methods have helped managers to a large extent, to identify and reinforce
and/or develop these competencies both for the growth of the individual and the growth of
the organization. In the following section, some major approaches of competency mapping
have been presented.
1) Assessment Centre
“Assessment Centre” is a mechanism to identify the potential for growth. It is a procedure
(not location) that uses a variety of techniques to evaluate employees for manpower purpose
and decisions. It was initiated by American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1960 for
line personnel being considered for promotion to supervisory positions. An essential feature
of the assessment center is the use of situational test to observe specific job behavior. Since
it is with reference to a job, elements related to the job are simulated through a variety of
tests. The assessors observe the behavior and make independent evaluation of what they
have observed, which results in identifying strengths and weaknesses of the attributes being
studied.
It is, however, worth remembering that there is a large body of academic research which
suggests that the assessment centre is probably one of the most valid predictors of
performance in a job and, if correctly structured, is probably one of the fairest and most
objective means of gathering information upon which a selection decision can be based.
From the candidate’s perspective it is important to be natural and to be oneself when faced
with an assessment centre, remembering always that you can only be assessed on what
you have done and what the assessors can observe.
The International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) has identified the following
elements, essential for a process to be considered as assessment center –
 A job analysis of relevant behavior to determine attributes skills, etc. for effective job
performance and what should be evaluated by assessment center.
 Techniques used must be validated to assess the dimensions of skills and abilities.

 Multiple assessment techniques must be used.
 Assessment techniques must include job related simulations.
 Multiple assessors must be used for each assessed.
 Assessors must be thoroughly trained.
 Behavioral observations by assessors must be classified into some meaningful and
relevant categories of attributes, skills and abilities, etc.
 Systematic procedures should be used to record observations.
 Assessors must prepare a report.
 All information thus generated must be integrated either by discussion or application
of statistical techniques.
Data thus generated can become extremely useful in identifying employees with potential
for growth. Following are some of the benefits of the assessment center –
 It helps in identifying early the supervisory/ managerial potential and gives sufficient
lead time for training before the person occupies the new position.
 It helps in identifying the training and development needs.
 Assessors who are generally senior managers in the organization find the training for
assessor as a relevant experience to know their organization a little better.
 The assessment center exercise provides an opportunity for the organization to
review its HRM policies.
Assessment Centre is a complex process and requires investment in time. It should
safeguard itself from misunderstandings and deviations in its implementation. For this, the
following concerns should be ensured –
 Assessment Centre for diagnosis is often converted as Assessment Centre for
prediction of long range potential.
 The assessors’ judgment may reflect the perception of reality and not the reality itself.
 One is not sure if the benefits outweigh the cost.
Assessment Centre comprises a number of exercises or simulations which have been
designed to replicate the tasks and demands of the job. These exercises or simulations will

have been designed in such a way that candidates can undertake them both singly and
together and they will be observed by assessors while they are doing the exercises.
The main types of exercises are presented below. Most organizations use a combination of
them to assess the strengths, weaknesses and potential of employees.
a) Group Discussions
In these, candidates are brought together as a committee or project team with one or a
number of items to make a recommendation on. Candidates may be assigned specific roles
to play in the group or it may be structured in such a way that all the candidates have the
same basic information. Group discussion allows them to exchange information and ideas
and gives them the experience of working in a team. In the work place, discussions enable
management to draw on the ideas and expertise of staff, and to acknowledge the staff as
valued members of a team.
Some advantages of group discussion are:
 Ideas can be generated.
 Ideas can be shared.
 Ideas can be ‘tried out’.
 Ideas can be responded to by others.
 When the dynamics are right, groups provide a supportive and nurturing environment
for academic and professional endeavor.
 Group discussion skills have many professional applications.
 Working in groups is fun
A useful strategy for developing an effective group discussion is to identify task and
maintenance roles that members can take up. Following roles and the dialogue that might
accompany them in a group discussion have been identified.
(i) Positive Task Roles – These roles help in reaching the goals more effectively –
 Initiator – Recommends novel ideas about the problem at hand, new ways to
approach the problem, or possible solutions not yet considered.
 Information seeker – Emphasizes “getting the facts” by calling for background
information from others.

 Information giver – Provides data for forming decisions, including facts that derive
from expertise.
 Opinion seeker – Asks for more qualitative types of data, such as attitudes, values,
and feelings.
 Opinion giver – Provides opinions, values, and feelings.
 Clarifier – Gives additional information- examples, rephrasing, and applications
about points being made by others.
 Summarizer – Provides a secretarial function.
(ii) Positive Maintenance Roles – These become particularly important as the discussion
develops and opposing points of view begin to emerge –
 Social Supporter – Rewards others through agreement, warmth, and praise.
 Harmonizer – Mediates conflicts among group members.
 Tension Reliever – Informally points out the positive and negative aspects of the
group’s dynamics and calls for change, if necessary.
 Energizer – Stimulates the group to continue working when the discussion flags.
 Compromiser – Shifts her/his own position on an issue in order to reduce conflict in
the group.
 Gatekeeper – Smoothes communication by setting up procedures and ensuring
equal participation from members.
During an effective group discussion each participant may take up a number of task and
maintenance roles to keep the discussion moving productively. In addition, there are a
number of negative roles which are often taken up in group discussion. They should be
avoided during group discussions. The discussion group may adopt the ground rule that
negative role behavior will be censured by members of the group. Described below are some
of the negative roles to be avoided –
 Disgruntled non-participant – someone who does not contribute and whose
presence inhibits the participation of other group members.
 Attacker – someone who acts aggressively by expressing disapproval of other
members and their contributions to the discussion.

 Dominator – someone who takes control of the discussion by talking too much,
interrupting other members, or behaving in a patronizing way.
 Clown – someone who ‘shows off’, refuses to take the discussion seriously, or
disrupts it with inappropriate humor.
b) In Tray
This type of exercise is normally undertaken by candidates individually. The materials
comprise a bundle of correspondence and the candidate is placed in the role of somebody,
generally, which assumed a new position or replaced their predecessor at short notice and
has been asked to deal with their accumulated correspondence. Generally the only evidence
that the assessors have to work with is the annotations which the candidates have made on
the articles of mail. It is important when undertaking such an exercise to make sure that the
items are not just dealt with, but are clearly marked on the items any thoughts that
candidates have about them or any other actions that they would wish to undertake.
c) Interview Simulations/Role Plays
In these exercises candidates meet individually with a role player or resource person. Their
brief is either to gather information to form a view and make a decision, or alternatively, to
engage in discussion with the resource person to come to a resolution on an aspect or issue
of dispute. Typically, candidates will be allowed 15 -30 minutes to prepare for such a meeting
and will be given a short, general brief on the objective of the meeting. Although the
assessment is made mainly on the conduct of the meeting itself, consideration are also be
given to preparatory notes.
d) Case Studies / Analysis Exercises
In this type of exercise the candidate is presented with the task of making a decision about
a particular business case. They are provided with a large amount of factual information
which is generally ambiguous and, in some cases, contradictory. Candidates generally work
independently on such an exercise and their recommendation or decision is usually to be
communicated in the form of a brief written report and/or a presentation made to the
assessors. As with the other exercises it is important with this kind of exercise to ensure that
their thought processes are clearly articulated and available for the scrutiny of the assessors.

Of paramount importance, if the brief requires a decision to be made, ensure that a decision
is made and articulated.
2) Critical Incidents Technique
It is difficult to define critical incident except to say that it can contribute to the growth and
decay of a system. Perhaps one way to understand the concept would be to examine what
it does. Despite numerous variations in procedures for gathering and analyzing critical
incidents researchers and practitioners agree the critical incidents technique can be
described as a set of procedures for systematically identifying behaviours that contribute to
success or failure of individuals or organisations in specific situations. First of all, a list of
good and bad on the job behaviour is prepared for each job. A few judges are asked to rate
how good and how bad is good and bad behaviour, respectively. Based on these ratings a
check-list of good and bad behavior is prepared.
The next task is to train supervisors in taking notes on critical incidents or outstanding
examples of success or failure of the subordinates in meeting the job requirements. The
incidents are immediately noted down by the supervisor as he observes them. Very often,
the employee concerned is also involved in discussions with his supervisor before the
incidents are recorded, particularly when an unfavourable incident is being recorded, thus
facilitating the employee to come out with his side of the story.
The objective of immediately recording the critical incidents is to improve the supervisor’s
ability as an observer and also to reduce the common tendency to rely on recall and hence
attendant distortions in the incidents. Thus, a balance-sheet for each employee is generated
which can be used at the end of the year to see how well the employee has performed.
Besides being objective a definite advantage of this technique is that it identifies areas where
counseling may be useful.
In real world of task performance, users are perhaps in the best position to recognize critical
incidents caused by usability problems and design flaws in the user interface. Critical
incident identification is arguably the single most important kind of information associated
with task performance in usability -oriented context.
Following are the criteria for a successful use of critical incident technique –
 Data are centered on real critical incidents that occur during a task performance.

 Tasks are performed by real users.
 Users are located in their normal working environment.
 Data are captured in normal task situations, not contrived laboratory settings.
 Users self report their own critical incidents after they have happened.
 No direct interaction takes place between user and evaluator during the description
of the incident(s).
 Quality data can be captured at low cost to the user.
Critical Incidents Technique is useful for obtaining in-depth data about a particular role or
set of tasks. It is extremely useful to obtain detailed feedback on a design option. It involves
the following three steps
Step 1) Gathering facts – The methodology usually employed through an open-ended
questionnaire, gathering retrospective data. The events should have happened fairly
recently: the longer the time period between the events and their gathering, the greater the
danger that the users may reply with imagined stereotypical responses. Interviews can also
be used, but these must be handled with extreme care not to bias the user.
There are two kinds of approaches to gather information –
1) Unstructured approach – where the individual is asked to write down two good things and
two bad things that happened when one was carrying out an activity.
2) Moderate structured approach – where the individual is asked to respond to following
questions relating to what happened when he/she was carrying out an activity.
 What lead up to the situation?
 What was done that was especially effective or non- effective?
 What was the result( outcome)?
Step 2) Content analysis – Second step consists of identifying the contents or themes
represented by the clusters of incidents and conducting “retranslation” exercises during
which the analyst or other respondents sort the incidents into content dimensions or
categories. These steps help to identify incidents that are judged to represent dimensions
of the behaviour being considered. This can be done using a simple spreadsheet. Every
item is entered as a separate incident to start with, and then each of the incidents is compiled
into categories. Category membership is marked as identical, quite similar and could be
similar. This continues until each item is assigned to a category on at least a “quite similar”

basis. Each category is then given a name and the numbers of the responses in the category
are counted. These are in turn converted into percentages (of total number of responses)
and a report is formulated.
Step 3) Creating feedback – It is important to consider that both positive and negative
feedback be provided. The poor features should be arranged in order of frequency, using
the number of responses per category. Same should be done with the good features. At this
point it is necessary to go back to the software and examine the circumstances that led up
to each category of critical incident. Identify what aspect of the interface was responsible for
the incident. Sometimes one finds that there are not one, but several aspects of an
interaction that lead to a critical incident; it is their conjunction together that makes it critical
and it would be an error to focus on one salient aspect.
Some of the advantages of critical incident technique are presented below –
 Some of the human errors that are unconsciously committed can be traced and
rectified by these methods. For example, a case study on pilots obtained detailed
factual information about pilot error experiences in reading and interpreting aircraft
instruments from people not trained in the critical incident technique (i.e., eyewitness
or the pilot who made the error)
 Users with no background in software engineering or human computer interaction,
and with the barest minimum of training in critical incident identification, can identify,
report, and rate the severity level of their own critical incidents. This result is important
because successful use of the reported critical incident method depends on the ability
of typical users to recognize and report critical incidents effectively.
Some of the disadvantages of critical incidents method are presented below –
 It focuses on critical incidents therefore routine incidents will not be reported. It is
therefore poor as a tool for routine task analysis.
 Respondents may still reply with stereotypes, not actual events. Using more structure
in the form improves this but not always.
 Success of the user reported critical incident method depends on the ability of typical
end users to recognize and report critical incidents effectively, but there is no reason
to believe that all users have this ability naturally.
3) Interview Techniques

Almost every organisation uses an interview in some shape or form, as part of competency
mapping. Enormous amounts of research have been conducted into interviews and
numerous books have been written on the subject. There are, however, a few general
guidelines, the observation of which should aid the use of an interview for competency
mapping.
The interview consists of interaction between interviewer and applicant. If handled properly,
it can be a powerful technique in achieving accurate information and getting access to
material otherwise unavailable. If the interview is not handled carefully, it can be a source
of bias, restricting or distorting the flow of communication.
Since the interview is one of the most commonly used personal contact methods, great care
has to be taken before, during and after the interview.
Following steps are suggested –
 Before the actual interviews begin, the critical areas in which questions will be asked
must be identified for judging ability and skills. It is advisable to write down these
critical areas, define them with examples, and form a scale to rate responses. If there
is more than one interviewer, some practice and mock interviews will help calibrate
variations in individual interviewers’ ratings.
 The second step is to scrutinize the information provided to identify skills, incidents
and experiences in the career of the candidate, which may answer questions raised
around the critical areas. This procedure will make interviews less removed from
reality and the applicant will be more comfortable because the discussion will focus
on his experiences.
 An interview is a face-to-face situation. The applicant is “on guard” and careful to
present the best face possible. At the same time he is tense, nervous and possibly
frightened. Therefore, during the interview, tact and sensitivity can be very useful.
The interviewer can get a better response if he creates a sense of ease and
informality and hence uncover clues to the interviewee’s motivation, attitudes,
feelings, temperament, etc., which are otherwise difficult to comprehend.
 The fundamental step is establishing “rapport”, putting the interviewee at ease;
conveying the impression that the interview is a conversation between two friends,
and not a confrontation of employer and employee. One way to achieve this is by

initially asking questions not directly related to the job, which is, chatting casually
about the weather, journey and so on.
 Once the interviewee is put at ease the interviewer starts asking questions, or seeking
information related to the job. Here again it is extremely important to lead up to
complex questions gradually. Asking a difficult, complex question in the beginning
can affect subsequent interaction, particularly if the interviewee is not able to answer
the question. Thus it is advisable for the pattern to follow the simple-to-complex
sequence.
 Showing surprise or disapproval of speech, clothes, or answers to questions can also
inhibit the candidate. The interviewee is over-sensitive to such reactions. Hence, an
effort to try and understand the interviewee’s point of view and orientation can go a
long way in getting to know the applicant.
 Leading questions should be avoided because they give the impression that the
interviewer is seeking certain kinds of answers. This may create a conflict in the
interviewee, if he has strong views on the subject. Nor should the interviewer allow
the interview to get out of hand. He should be alert and check the interviewee if he
tries to lead the discussion in areas where he feels extremely competent, if it is likely
to stray from relevant areas.
 The interviewer should be prepared with precise questions, and not take too much
time in framing them.
Once this phase is over, the interviewers should discuss the interviewee, identify areas of
agreement and disagreement, and make a tentative decision about the candidate. It will be
helpful if, in addition to rating the applicant, interviewers made short notes on their
impression of candidates’ behavior responses; which can then be discussed later.
If the interview is to continue for many days, an evaluation of the day’s work, content of
questions and general pattern of response should be made for possible mid-course
correction. In addition, a large number of methods have been developed to measure and
map competencies. Most of them are of recent origin and are designed to identify those
skills, attitudes and knowledge that are suited most for specific jobs.

4) Questionnaires
Questionnaires are written lists of questions that users fill out questionnaire and return. You
begin by formulating questions about your product based on the type of information you
want to know. The questionnaire sources below provide more information on designing
effective questions. This technique can be used at any stage of development, depending on
the questions that are asked in the questionnaire. Often, questionnaires are used after
products are shipped to assess customer satisfaction with the product. Such questionnaires
often identify usability issues that should have been caught in-house before the product was
released to the market.
a) Common Metric Questionnaire (CMQ) – They examine some of the competencies to work
performance and have five sections: Background, Contacts with People, Decision Making,
Physical and Mechanical Activities, and Work Setting. The background section asks 41
general questions about work requirements such as travel, seasonality, and license
requirements. The Contacts with People section asks 62 questions targeting level of
supervision, degree of internal and external contacts, and meeting requirements. The 80
Decision Making items in the CMQ focus on relevant occupational knowledge and skill,
language and sensory requirements, and managerial and business decision making. The
Physical and Mechanical Activities section contains 53 items about physical activities and
equipment, machinery, and tools. Work Setting contains 47 items that focus on
environmental conditions and other job characteristics. The CMQ is a relatively new
instrument.
b) Functional Job Analysis – The most recent version of Functional Job Analysis uses seven
scales to describe what workers do in jobs. These are – Things, Data, People, Worker
Instructions, Reasoning, Maths, and Language. Each scale has several levels that are
anchored with specific behavioral statements and illustrative tasks and are used to collect
job information.
c) Multipurpose Occupational System Analysis Inventory (MOSAIC) – In this method each
job analysis inventory collects data from the office of personnel management system
through a variety of descriptors. Two major descriptors in each questionnaire are tasks and
competencies. Tasks are rated on importance and competencies are rated on several
scales including importance and requirements for performing the task. This is mostly used
for US government jobs.

d) Occupational Analysis Inventory – It contains 617 “work elements.” designed to yield more
specific job information while still capturing work requirements for virtually all occupations.
The major categories of items are five-fold: Information Received, Mental Activities, Work
Behavior, Work Goals, and Work Context. Respondents rate each job element on one of
four rating scales: part-of-job, extent, applicability, or a special scale designed for the
element. Afterwards, the matching is done between competencies and work requirements.
e) Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) – It is a structured job analysis instrument to
measure job characteristics and relate them to human characteristics. It consists of 195 job
elements that represent in a comprehensive manner the domain of human behavior involved
in work activities.
These items fall into following five categories –
 Information input (where and how the worker gets information),
 Mental processes (reasoning and other processes that workers use),
 Work output (physical activities and tools used on the job),
 Relationships with other persons, and
 Job context (the physical and social contexts of work).
f) Work Profiling System (WPS) – It is designed to help employers accomplish human
resource functions. The competency approach is designed to yield reports targeted toward
various human resource functions such as individual development planning, employee
selection, and job description. There are three versions of the WPS tied to types of
occupations: managerial, service, and technical occupations. It contains a structured
questionnaire which measures ability and personality attributes.
5) Psychometric Tests
Many organizations use some form of psychometric assessment as a part of their selection
process. For some people this is a prospect about which there is a natural and
understandable wariness of the unknown.
A psychometric test is a standardized objective measure of a sample of behavior. It is
standardized because the procedure of administering the test, the environment in which the
test is taken, and the method of calculating individual scores are uniformly applied. It is
objective because a good test measures the individual differences in an unbiased scientific
method without the interference of human factors. Most of these tests are time bound and

have a correct answer. A person’s score is calculated on the basis of correct answers. Most
tests could be classified in two broad categories:
a) Aptitude Tests – They refer to the potentiality that a person has to profit from training. It
predicts how well a person would be able to perform after training and not what he has done
in the past. They are developed to identify individuals with special inclinations in given
abilities. Hence they cover more concrete, clearly defined or practical abilities like
mechanical aptitude, clinical aptitude and artistic aptitude etc.
b) Achievement Tests – These tests measure the level of proficiency that a person has been
able to achieve. They measure what a person has done. Most of these tests measure such
things as language usage, arithmetic computation and reasoning etc. An effective manager
is one who is able to assign jobs to the correct personnel, which requires perfect job
analysis. Job analysis is also useful to make decisions relating to organisational planning
and design, recruitment and selection of personnel, their training, appraisal and
development and other managerial functions. For all these to happen smoothly there is a
requirement of competency approach to job analysis.

CRITICAL REVIEW

Training and HRD Aspects
Training and development in organizations is a strategic activity made necessary largely
because of the dynamic nature of the environment in which organizations exist and function,
as well as by the changes that occur in its human resources. Both the organization and its
members must develop new skills over time to remain competitive.
For the organization, this means that such basic concerns as growth, performance,
productivity and planning are reflected in training needs analysis, program and course
evaluation, and the management of the training function.
For the individual in the organization, basic needs relating to personal growth, career
development, promotion and advancement, job satisfaction and quality of work life are
viewed largely as the responsibility and domain of the training and development department.
Accommodating the needs and demands of the organization and the individuals through
well-conceived, articulated designed and administered training programs is the unique
juggling act performed by the HRD professional.
As organizations develop into learning organization, this has a profound impact on the
relationship between work and learning. Whereas learning used to be primarily equaled to
training, it now becomes predominantly associated with learning from experience, and self
directed learning. Looking at objectives it can be said that most HRD functions in the
organization, by supporting the company in realizing business objectives. For instance by
ensuring that the workforce has necessary competencies, in trying to realize this strategic
contribution, HRD functions not only provide training, but also seek to provide opportunities
for (informal) employee learning in general (with knowledge sharing as an explicit form).
Both managers and employee fulfill an active role. HRD professionals themselves appear
to fulfill both a strategic and a practical role. Their strategic role can be seen as an effort to
link training closely to the business. The responsibility of managers can be seen in the same
light, by actively helping employees in analyzing learning needs and agreeing upon learning
activities. HRD is becoming ever more integrated within the business. This integration
process appears to take place both with regard to policy-making (HRD policy linked more
closely to and eventually integrated in general strategy),and with regard to the execution of
HRD activities (from being performed by HRD department, to a shared responsibility of
HRD professionals, managers and employees). All in all, it can be concluded that training is

still an important to note is that HRD professionals not only provide opportunities for learning,
but also deliberately also try to change attitudes to change attitudes to learning.
First, it seems very crucial that employees are motivated for learning. f they are not, this
imposes a serious inhibiting factor to realizing the new work practices. if individual
employees do not see the importance of learning, they will not take an opportunities. An
important aspect with regards to motivation is an appreciation of more informal ways of
learning and development, and a sense of responsibility for their own learning. This means
a considerable shift from the traditional views employees hold on learning. That is by
adopting different HRD practices but also by targeted HRD interventions and work methods.
Second, a trend of decentralization is found managers more and more expected of them to
perform assessments and needs analysis, work on development plans for their staff,
motivate employees for learning. In the long run, it would be interesting to consider
incorporating HRD skills in all management-training programs, if HRD is truly to become an
integrated part of business. This will decrease the gap found between wishes and ideas
from managers and activities from HRD professionals.
Third, as the HRD function is changing their practices, their own role changes considerably.
Instead of trainers, they now become consultants, who also have to manage the link
between their activities and company strategy. It seems that reputation of the HRD
department and its credibility are of great influence for the role of HRD in developing towards
aligning organization.

Importance of Training
When a person working feverishly and while he/she is working if we ask him like-“what are
you doing?’ ’He/she will reply impatiently. And if that person is working continuously for 5
hours we will ask him to take a break of few minutes he/she denies. He/she says
emphatically that too busy and have to finish his work today itself.
Although it is not fair that most people are capable of doing things reasonably well, it is true
that very few people are naturally good at things they need to do. In order words of business
and management it is never assumed that people are able to do things such as those that
student groups need to- yet it is all the decision of the running organization.
Perhaps one of the main reasons that people don’t seek out training is that it is a commitment
time with no straight forward. Yet a day spent in training at the start of the year will greatly
reduce the amount of work group members will need to do the rest of the year because
people who really know what they are doing always find it much quicker and easier to do
things than who don’t so it is a little bit like taking to sharpen the saw before cutting down a
tree. Ultimately, training saves your time.
Group leader ought to take it upon them to work out what training the people need to achieve
their jobs, and make sure that they receive this training. This will include in promoting the
culture of training within the group, and leading by example by being trained.
The perception that the external training is irreverent deserves a 2nd thought in view of
increasing competition passed by the global market place and the recession. Today’s
globalize economy has led to organization responses which include drives for quality,
technological changes and organizational restructuring, which has been he trigger for
seeking most cost effective training.
While internal training such as in house courses and programs on the job training, mentoring
and open learning are still popular among the Malaysian countries, traditional external
training have received criticism from many companies for its theoretical and academic
approach. For example, unrealistic and impractical examples are use to illustrate the
program not related to the actual simulation in the work place. Some courses are believed
to be irrelevant as they are not tailored according to the employee and the job needs.
Hence, it is the needs for cost effective training which has cost the shift away from traditional
training over past recent years. Cost effective training is usually work related and practical

by nature. Ideally, cost effective training enhances the trainee’s motivation and
understanding increasing their productivity and efficiency at work with a minimum training
project.
As the managers increasingly see work related training to be of importance, budget
conscious companies are also aware of problems that the training is conducted by external
trainings are too expensive while the course provided are in sensitive to companies and
training needs. Some also find external training disruptive and creating problems rather than
solving them.
External training providers should carefully identify the individual company’s needs for
training and respond to this different need accordingly. After identifying the needs and
problem the training providers should related the course contents the trainees work by
providing information and hands on approach to the trainees.
Managers can request for the external training providers to develop courses where the
theory types to external training providers to develop courses where the theory types to
relevant practical examples, and with trainers going out of the workplace as much as
possible .In short, training needs of employees must be identified and must not be assumed
in order to achieve cost effectiveness for the company.

OVERVIEW AND BRIEF
INTRODUCTION OF
NDPL

Introduction
North Delhi Power Limited incorporated on 1 July 2002 is a joint venture of TATA Power and
GoNCTD (TATA Power - 49%, TATA Sons – 2%, GoNCTD - 49%) and is one of the few
private power distribution utilities in India, in an otherwise Govt. owned industry. Delhi
became the second state after Orissa to unleash Reforms in the Power Sector, which
resulted in the unbundling of Delhi Vidyut Board into 5 entities – 3 Discoms (NDPL, BYPL
and BRPL), GENCO and TRANSCO (DTL). This was institutionalized through a Transfer
Scheme, which was preceded by a Tripartite Agreement (TPA) between employee
representatives, GoNCTD and DVB. The stakes in Discoms were offered to private players
through a competitive bidding process on the basis of their commitment to reduce ATandC
Losses over the transition period of 5 years (2002-07).
Distribution of Power across a geographic spread of 510 sq. km with a consumer base of
10.35 Lakh and a population of approximately 50 Lakh. NDPL’s daily average energy
requirement is about 16 to 18 MUs and Annual Energy Input of around 6,000 MUs (about
28% of Delhi’s input) with Turnover of about Rs 2,400 Crores. ATandC Losses have reduced
by 50% as compared to the loss levels at the time of take over. (53% in Jul 02 to 18% in
Dec 09). 26% of Revenue contribution from Xpresss (>500 kW) and KCG (>100 kW)
consumers which includes sensitive loads such as DMRC, Hospitals, Hotels, Shopping
NDPL
BSES
Rajdhani
BSES
Yamuna
NDMC
MES
Joint Venture of TATA Group with Delhi Govt.
51:49%

Malls etc. A team comprising of approximately 3,700 dedicated and committed members. In
a short period of just about 7 years, NDPL’s performance has been acknowledged and
bestowed with national and international recognitions.
NDPL arranges Input Power
from various Generators
G
1
G
2
G3
TRANSCO – High Voltage
Transmission Lines
TRANSCO – 220/66 kV
Grid Station (G/Stn.)
NDPL – 66/11 kV G/
Stn.
SPD – CGHS (HCB Consumers)NDPL – 11kV/ 220 V DT
NDPL – 66/11 kV G/Stn
NDPL – 66/33 kV G/Stn
NDPL –11kV/ 220
V
NDPL –11kV/ 440
V
NDPL – 11kV / 440
V
NDPL – 33/11 kV G/Stn.
NDPL – 11kV/ 220 V
Distribution Transformer
JJ Clusters
LT ABC Network
HCB Consumers KCG
Consumer
HRB
Consumers
The power supply to each consumer is metered and a bill is
raised for the units consumed. The difference between the
Units Input from Transco and the Units Collected through
Revenue Collection from consumers is the ATandC Loss.
DERC determines the Tariff, sets the guidelines for
Performance standards and ensures compliance.

Organization
NDPL distributes power to more than 1 million consumer premises in its license area of
power distribution, i.e. North and North-west Delhi
Attribute Status
Turnover (FY 07-08) Rs. 2,445 Cr
Peak Load 1,100 MW
Energy Requirement (FY 07-08) 6,281 MU
Total Registered Consumers 1 Million
Number of Employees 3,800
Area of Distribution 510 Sq Kms
Population Serviced (approx) 4.5 Million
Per Capita Consumption (Units) 1,395 (National Avg of 500, Mumbai ≈
850)
Number of Consumers / Sqkm 1,960 (Only Registered)
Employees / MU input 0.6
Load / Energy Growth 07% / 05%
Vision Statement – “To be the most trusted and admired provider of reliable and
competitive Power to People we serve and to be company of choice to work for”
Mission Statement –
 To deliver Quality and cost effective power
 To ensure excellence in consumer care
 To create a work environment which encourages safety, team work, learning and
innovation
 To meet or exceed all stakeholder expectations
 To enrich quality of life in the society we operate in
Core Values – NDPL is a value driven organization and these values continue to direct the
company’s growth and business. The five core values underpinning the way we do business
are
 Integrity – We must conduct our business fairly, with honesty and transparency.
Everything we do must stand the test of public scrutiny

 Understanding – We must be caring, show respect, compassion and humanity for
our colleagues and customers and always work for the benefit of the communities we
serve
 Excellence – We must constantly strive to achieve the highest possible standards in
our day to day work and in the quality of goods and services we provide
 Unity – We must work cohesively with our colleagues across the group and with our
customers and partners to build strong relationships based on tolerance
understanding and mutual co-operation
 Responsibility – We must continue to be responsible and sensitive to the
communities and environments in which we work always ensuring that what comes
from the people goes back to the people many times over
Challenges
NDPL faced the challenge of bringing about the desired changes in different spheres
of organizational working.
DVB was the largest exclusive urban utility in India at the time of transition but had made
little investment in infrastructure for the last two to three years. NDPL made a Rs. 12.5 billion
capital expenditure plan for five years and Rs. 2.5 billion annually for running expenses
Some of the key challenges that NDPL faced since the takeover are –
 Dealing with rampant theft by slum dwellers as well as industrial/commercial consumers
 Improving the sub-standard and dilapidated distribution network system
 Reducing the ATandC losses within a period of five years from 53 per cent during the
takeover to 20 per cent after a period of five years
 Improving system reliability so as to be comparable with the best utilities in India
 Changing the consumer perception of NDPL
 Promoting consumer service and IT interface at a level comparable with world standards
 Managing the nexus between the vested interests who were responsible for power theft
 Securing more comprehensive information on its assets

 Decreasing restoration periods to acceptable levels
 Internalizing in the company’s culture a concept of consumer priority and service
 Changing the mindsets of a neglected and semi-trained workforce
 Enhancing role clarity to the employees so as to increase the quality of performance
 Imbibing transparent and ethical working in all administrative centres and among the
employees of the company
 Establishing the TATA brand image in terms of the standards of the TATA Business
Excellence Model (TBEM)
HR Environment and Evolution
The attempts to establish the HR environment at NDPL was started from July 2002 and the
main focus of the same became the introduction of “Performance Management” at
organizational, departmental, group and individual level along with necessary “Information
Sharing” with all the work / user groups.
Some of the salient features that sets the HR environment are as follows –
 Salary being transferred through electronic clearance to the respective bank
accounts of the employees directly; every employee got his pay on the last day of the
month
 HR Information system for employee leaves, salary slips, LTA, Medical allowances,
tax deductions etc. was made available through an interactive HRIS application which
later on was replaced with more robust and proven ERP of SAP
 Performance monitoring of the basic entity of Power Distribution of the organization,
that is, Zones was started which as of date expands to all the groups / departments
as part of a structured Management Information System
 Manpower deployment is done based upon the function of the department and the
shifts etc. are allocated in a well defined structure with prime focus on proper
manpower utilization
 Service conditions of all the NDPL employees are linked to the performance
incentives as part of the core Organization and HR strategy as already explained in
the previous section

 Regular interaction forums for all the employees is created for 2-way communication
with the senior management as follows –
o Joint Interaction Forums (Periodic interaction involving the field level staff
including union representatives)
o Voice of Employees (To address all the concerns of the employees pertaining
to HR)
o Open House Sessions (2-way communication with Senior Management for all
middle managers)
o SAMVAD (Group/department wise 2-way communication with Senior
Management for all the members of the “Line Functions”)
 The grievances could even relate to issues like promotion, posting, error in pay-slip,
administration-related issues, and other personnel matters
 NDPL is having an incentive scheme to promote performance-based culture for
employees who successfully achieved their targets
 A distinct Reward and Recognition (RandR) scheme is in place with a view to
recognizing ingenuities and promoting talent
 Sports meet are organized for employees to improve the engagement level of the
employees
 Union management is the main focus of the Top Management wherein the
assimilation approach is a priority and regular reviews and meetings are conducted
through “Industrial Welfare Group” of HR function
 HR Evaluation is primarily done through the Balanced Score Card which incorporates
the “Performance Management” aspect of all the HR Objectives and the achievement
Month on Month is measured and reviewed
 Progress of identified strategic initiatives is monitored and new initiatives are
identified to improve the performance in certain areas
 Several schemes/policy such as Vehicle Policy, Ethics Management etc. are
deployed for focus on employee facilitation
 Mentor – Protégé relationship is an official affair but the same is in initial stages of
deployment and maturity, nevertheless the initiatives has resulted in the improvement
of employees

 Some of the policies such as Laptop policies are only the ones that are aimed at
creating the work-life integration for the employees
 HR planning/Manpower Planning is done as per the organizational strategy and the
recruitment time cycle and rate of attrition are measured and improved based upon
the BSC strategic objective
Knowledge management and other HR initiatives are part of creating the employee
engagement at all levels
Training and Development
The prime focus of NDPL since beginning has been the training and development of the
employees. Being a Power Distribution Utility and having to deal with state of the art and
latest technologies, the operating staff has to be current with the knowledge as well as, with
the due course of time, develop the expertise through continual improvement.
Some of the systems existing at NDPL are as follows –
 Training policy has been drawn in line with the “National Training Policy” and the
training of 2 mandays at workmen level and 6 mandays at officer level is made
mandatory across the year
 The initial training need identification was done through an exhaustive exercise
wherein each and every group was interviewed and their requirement was mapped
with the organizational needs
 Function and level wise training needs were collated and final needs were collated
for each level and as applicable to the individuals
 Based upon the training needs thus identified training modules were created and a
full fledged training calendar was put in place
 “Centre for Efficiency in Power Distribution (CENPEID)” was established as a
premium training centre in association with “United States Agency for International
Development (USAID)” and Ministry of Power, Union Government of India as a
facilitator to impart the training to the employees of all the players of Power Sector
viz. other utilities and State Electricity Boards (SEBs)
 Internal experts are trained to become trainers/faculties for the training programs
conducted in-house or outside as well, thereby reducing the overall cost of training

and at the same time helping the organization in “Asset Sweating (proper utilization
of manpower)” and also earning revenue apart from the core business
 All such internal faculties are recognized once a year based upon their contribution
and are felicitated at a function by the CEO of NDPL
 The robust system of Training Calendar has paved the way to identify the process of
capturing the training needs though the “Performance Appraisal System) itself,
wherein the employees express their training requirements in their appraisal forms
which are then mapped with the functional needs
 All needs thus captured and mapped are finalized and the training calendar for the
next year as well as the list of candidates are prepared handy and informed in
advance so as to prevent the wastage of resources for training and avoid the drop
outs as well
 Training evaluation is done scientifically through feedback form, follow-ups and
regular interactions with respective Team Leaders

STUDY OF TRAINING
FUNCTION AT NDPL

History
The Government of India has taken up ambitious program for new capacity addition
to the tune of 100,000 MW in the power sector by the year 2012. However,
traditional problems like - lack of commercial orientation, excessive Aggregate
Technical and Commercial (ATandC) losses, virtually no or very poor maintenance
of network, unplanned growth, overloading, inadequate tariff policy and lack of
training facility have been ailing the power sector for long.
The technician cadre which comprises of 60% of total work force and is the back
bone of distribution utility has been performing their duties based on the knowledge
gained through their experience and observing their seniors/peers. Similarly, for
the supervisory cadre, very little importance is given towards training with a view
to fulfill the requirement of National Training Policy for the Power Sector.
At the heart of the distribution problem is the critical need for sustained training
and capacity building at all levels ranging from the management of the State
Electricity Boards (SEB)/Distribution Companies (DISCOM) all the way to the
technicians, foremen and linesmen at the consumer end of the spectrum and
administrative and accounting personnel. While sporadic training has been
provided by SEB's/DISCOMs but power distribution training as a culture has not
been established.
In order to meet the ever increasing challenges in the Power Distribution sector in
the wake of reforms and to fully equip and prepare our employees properly to
address the changed market scenario, NDPL has started a full-fledged Training
Center in the name of Center for Power Efficiency in Distribution (CENPEID) in
January 2005.
CENPEID has created its own identity in the field of training not only in India but
in abroad also. Prior to setting up of CENPEID, realizing the importance and the
need of the Training, NDPL had laid great emphasis on this aspect and started
imparting training ever since August 2002 from our Human Resources
Development Institute (HRDI) operating from Rohini, North Delhi.
Vision Statements of CENPEID

Vision – "To be a Center of Excellence in providing training, sharing knowledge,
conducting research and providing a forum for Policy Advocacy in Power
Distribution in partnership with National and International stakeholders."
Mission –
 Design and deliver high quality and targeted technical training to
familiarize utility personnel with technical systems, equipment and
processes in power distribution chain.
 Institute best practices and certified programs to enhance supervisory
and management capabilities and capacity within NDPL and across the
utilities in India and abroad.
 Institute Applied Research Activities and provide Policy Inputs to national
and state governments Develop national and international partnerships,
provide study tours and facilitate internships to enhance Distribution
Efficiency Practices.
Objectives –
 To make learning and knowledge sharing as one of the fundamental
values within the company and across the sector
 Familiarize all personnel with existing and new technology in the Power
Distribution sector
 To build competency in employees and thereby add to the resource pool
of the sector as a whole

Training Activities
The target groups for various trainings at CENPEID –
Executives, Supervisors, Technicians, Office Associates, Security personnel,
Drivers, Paramedical Staff Members, Assistant Line (Wo)Men/Peons, Business
Associates’' Employees, etc.
Emphasis is given on “Hands on training” and “Opportunity to work and get trained
on actual model network”
The Training Track Record of CENPEID as shown below –
Faculty – CENPEID has a team of 11 trainers in technical, soft skills and IT area
along with 170 trainers drawn from the line functions of NDPL. Besides it has on
its panel NDPL supervisors and executives who have rich experience in serving
SEB’s/private utilities. CENPEID has a strong networking with renowned experts
in technical and managerial field who are called for training programs based on the
needs
3,955
10,784
15,021
19,948
16,413
19,896 19,350
17,041
2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010
Training Mandays

Training Processes
Training Need Identification –
Process Input Process Activities Process Output
Start
Collect
Training
Needs from
PMS and
Department
Heads
Compile the Training Needs captured from PMS and
Concerned department heads
Identify theme of training programs in consultation
with SCDTT and SCTT
Approval of
Training
Planner
Finalize List of Training Programs and prepare a
draft of Training Planner
No
Collect and compile the inputs from approving
authority
Yes
Approved Training
Calendar for the
year
End

Conducting Training Program –
Start
List of
Training
Programs and
Employees
Program Coordinator to send call letters to the
participants through Reporting Officers
Program Coordinator to arrange training as per
schedule and take attendance of the participants
Change in
Program
Schedule
No
Yes
Program coordinator to receive program feedback from
the participants
Processing of all the feedback forms for the
conducted training programs
PER for all the
conducted
programs
MIS Report and
Updated Training
Records in TIMS
and Ndpl-o-Pedia
End
Program Coordinator to schedule training
programs
Is it a
Certificatio
n
Program?
No
Yes
Distribute the certificates to the participants

Measuring Training Effectiveness –
Start
PER
PER review by AGM (CENPEID) with
respective program coordinator
HoD (Training) list applicable action points on
the basis of PER review
Questionnaires from the sample participants
and their reporting officers are filled
Select and prepare list of sample participants
for the identified programs
Filled questionnaires are compiled and
Training Effectiveness report is prepared
Start
Start
Questionnaire
for Customer
Satisfaction
Survey
Employees fill the questionnaire
Filled questionnaires are compiled and
Customer Satisfaction report is prepared
Report is submitted
to the Top
Management
End
Identify Five
Technical
and Five
Management
Programs
Review of Action
Points by AGM
(CENPEID)
End
Is any
Action Point
generated?
Yes
No

METHODOLOGY

The activity of “Competency Mapping and Skill Gap analysis” at NDPL was decided
to be covered under a “pilot project” and the results thus obtained were extrapolated
to propose relevant action plans and suggestions for training and development in
order to reduce the gaps of the required and actual skill levels.
The steps and methodology followed for competency mapping include –
Step 1 – Identifying the relevant areas indicating the skills / competencies
The competency mapping would, as a prerequisite, would require a framework through
which the levels of competencies could be captured. One of the most suitable methods
identified to ascertain the present level of competency is through the primary techniques or
direct interview with concerned reporting officers in order to ascertain “Key Responsibilities”
or “Nature of Job” for a certain set of employees. This can be justified through the concept
of training triangle concept in an organisation as mentioned below –
The top leadership of the company would provide the direction to the respective head of
functions, departments, groups, teams etc. and the training department pertaining to the
specific areas based in the longer and shorter term requirements of the organizational
competency building. These areas are then balanced at the team leader level with the
Identification and
implementation of
competency
development measures
Organizational
Competency based on
Short and Long term
HR Strategy
(Organization)
Individual Training
requirement for
competency
development
(Individual)
Mapping and balancing
the organizational
requirement and
individual need for
competency development.
(Head/Team Leader)
Direction
Delivery of Results

individual requirement of skill development and acquisition. Based on the above philosophy,
NDPL is having a framework of “Balanced Score Card (BSC) in place through which the
organizational strategy is cascaded to the respective functions / departments and the
respective heads have to derive their ‘Key Result Areas (KRAs)’ based n the BSC. The
KRAs thus identified are supported with the organizational and individual training and
development needs as well.
Creation of skill / competency map –
The next step was to identify the relevant areas which would help us identify the gaps in
the required and existing (present) level for the technicians selected as the sample. After
due consultation and active vetting by line managers including the HoGs & HoDs of various
groups / departments / functions these areas were so selected so that the skills or
competencies can to be analysed as part of this project were then identified after due
consultation with the training department.
These are listed as below –
1. Workplace Management
2. Self Discipline
3. Job Knowledge
4. Safety Compliance
5. Customer Orientation
6. Knowledge of Tools and Tackles and ability to maintain these
7. Quality consciousness
8. New initiatives like SHINE (Systematic and Holistic Improvement at NDPL through
Employee Engagement), quality circle
9. Team Work
10.Timely Completion of Work
The aforementioned areas are directly related to the daily work of the technicians and helped
us in making the respective heads understand their impact on the work as well as analyse
the effect of any training based on the same. A relevant framework of a “map” is a best

way to visualize the levels hence, the areas as mentioned above were suitably adjusted on
the a specially created chart which we called the “spider chart”. The spider chart thus
created is shown as below –
Workplace
Management
Knowledge of Tools
and Tackles and
ability to maintain
these Tackles
Safety
Compliance
New initiative like
SHINE, quality circle
Job
Knowled
ge
Customer
Orientation
Quality
consciousness
Team
Work
Timely
Completion
of Work
1
2
3
4
5
Self Discipline

Step 2 – Identifying the sample, conducting one to one interviews with reporting
officers in order to identify the “Skill Gaps”
NDPL is a relatively large organisation with an employee base of almost 3500 employees
spread across different locations of NDPL and posted in departments and functions and
responsible for variety of outcomes as per the targets and requirements. The main functions
of the NDPL which comprise of largest manpower as well as continuous need or new
manpower are Operations, Commercial and Planning and Technology. These functions
carry out the basic operational task of the Power Distribution business of NDPL which
comprises of following major activities –
 Power Supply – Operations and Maintenance
 Metering, Billing and New Connections
 Automation and Network Engineering
Apart from the functional and operational structure, NDPL also has the basic fabric of
hierarchy structure comprising of the executive grade with top, middle and junior
management at the top and middle levels of hierarchy. Additionally, there is also the non-
executive grade of supervisors and workers at the lowest level of hierarchy who are involved
in the daily operations. Any activity of competency mapping, analysis and the corresponding
actions in terms of training to improve a certain competency or skill would require some
tangible attributes to be measured. The managerial level is difficult to be analysied on a
certain scale or parameter because of majority of skills pertaining to managerial roles bears
a high level of behavioural impact, the effect of which, as improvement at the workplace,
takes place after a considerable period of time.
Due to the time factor in analysing the impact of training related improvement on the
managerial grade it was decided to study the competencies at the
technicians/workers grade where the assessment of impact of the development
initiatives is fairly simple to capture as well as observe in the work activities of the
workers.
Having decided upon the set of employees to be picked up for the sample, the next issue
was to identify the area from where this set would be picked up. All the functions of NDPL

NDPL’s Organisational and Functional Hierarchy
CEO / COO
Operations
Distribution
Power System
Control & Asset
Mgmt
Commercial
Connection
Mgmt
Meter, Reading &
Billing Mgmt
Recovery
Mgmt
Planning &
Technology
Power
Systems
Automation &
Network Engineering
Information
Technology
Project Engg &
Contracts
Finance &
Legal
HR & Admin
Training

were examined and the main functions of Operations and commercial were zeroed in where
the activities such as attending the complaints of power supply interruptions, managing
small teams of 2-3 workers, installing meters, doing operations on high voltage network etc.
may indicate palpable effect of trainings. Following areas were identified to be covered to
map the initial levels of competency/skills –
 Operations – Distribution Operations and Maintenance, Protection, Street Lighting,
Fault Locating Crew
 Planning and Technology – Power Systems
 Commercial – Metering
The specific areas were identified as below –
Function – Area No. of Technicians
Commercial – Metering 5
Operations - Street Light 6
Operations – Protection 5
Planning and Technology - Power Systems 6
Operations - Fault Locating Crew 1
Operations - Distribution Operations and
Maintenance
7
Total 30
The period of the overall project had the main bearing on the selection of the size and level
of the sample. This can be explained from the fact that objective of the project also included
the assessment of the improvements/effects of the corrective measures based on the
competency mapping and the consequent skill gap analysis of the employees selected. All
the technicians were so identified who are involved in the frontline activities of their
respective functions which would be easy to quantify their actions help their seniors or

reporting officers to identify the changes/improvements, if any, after the measures taken
based on competency mapping exercise.
Having finalized the spider chart in Step - 1, we then did one to one interview with all the
heads / reporting officers of all the technicians who were identified for the survey of the
project, this involved visiting their respective offices, briefing them about the project and it’s
expected outcome and helping them correlating the daily work activities with the areas
identified as above. To quantify the observations a scale from 0 to 5 was identified and the
heads were asked their respective team member technician to rate them. This rating would
be the present level (PL-1). Based on the organizational requirement the required level was
worked out with the training department and the present level was compared with the
required level (RL). A form was created (see appendix) to map the ratings on site and
analyze the same having the provisions of signing off by the heads as well as training
department.
The illustration of the same was prepared as below –
Need /
Desire
Skill Work place activities RL PL–1 PL–2
1 Workplace
Management
Arrangement of Tools
Record of daily activity
2 Self Discipline Punctuality
3 Job Knowledge Assessment of knowledge
Errors committed
4 Safety Compliance Unsafe incidents
5 Customer Orientation Complaints
6 Knowledge of Tools
and Tackles and
ability to maintain
these
Assessments
7 Quality
consciousness
Errors committed
8 New initiatives like
SHINE, quality circle
No. of initiatives
9 Team Work Feedback from team leader
10 Timely Completion of
Work
Assessment of time taken to
complete the job
The levels of the ratings for RL and PL-1 should also be objective in order to suggest the
relevant action or opportunity for improvement so as to target the level where a specific

technician / subject can be targeted to be taken within a given timeframe based on his/her
age, proficiency, ability to learn, etc. These levels were defined as below –
 L–5 (Can teach others) : As per the requirement of the organisation, the concerned
employee should be able to add value to the area / process he is involved in thus at
this level a non-executive cadre who would at the most end up leading a field team
up to 10 members as per NDPL’s area of operation is at least expected to be able to
teach / train his junior team members for the certain skill he is good at
 L–4 (Can do with Confidence) : At this level the technician is expected to
demonstrate a fair degree of confidence in the duties he/she is performing and
generally should not need guidance/assistance from seniors for the jobs that are
repetitive in nature
 L–3 (Can do to some Degree) : At this level the technician would not be knowing is
job fully and would be seeking the help of seniors for some of the areas but at the
same time is able to handle certain jobs in individual capacity
 L–2 (Know the Theory) : Technicians at this level should at least be aware of the
theory behind the jobs being undertaken, hence, this level becomes the basic level
that a technician must be at before being inducted to the independent jobs
 L–1 (Do Not Know) : This is the lowermost level and if technician being at this level
will require training interventions to be able to add any value for the organisation
The desired capability of the technician based on the level was carefully finalised as the
objective was to identify the skill / competency gap analysis as well as the requirement of a
certain skill in the respective are of operation viz. Operations, commercials etc.
The levels thus helped the respective heads to very objectively identify as to where do there
technician team member stands at present and post training intervention. The final map
made for this activity is illustrated as below –

FINDING and
ANALYSIS

Step 3 – Analysis of the outcomes of Steps – 1 and 2 and identify the training module
and organise the relevant training programs to bridge the gaps
Having completed the survey to examine the present level (PL-1) of the skills /
competencies, the next step involved following crucial activities –
Analysis of the gaps in the present and required levels, that is, PL-1 and RL
The data of the survey conducted through one to one interviews of the reporting officers o
30 technicians was complied and is summarised in the table below –
Competency :
Present level
(PL-1)
Workplace
management
Selfdiscipline
JobKnowledge
SafetyCompliance
Customer
orientation
Knowledgeoftool
andtackelsand
abilitytomaintain
these
Quality
conciousness
Newinitiativeslike
SHINE,qulitycircle
Teamwork
TimelyCompletion
ofwork
Required
Level of
Competency
(Present Level
if below this
then Training
Should be
planned)
4 5 5 5 4 5 4 3 5 4
Average
Competencies
Level
3.33 3.67 3.70 4.00 3.57 3.93 3.57 2.70 3.87 3.70
No. of
Technicians at
Required
Level
15 5 6 9 12 9 14 11 6 15
No. of
Technicians
below
Required
Level
15 25 24 21 14 21 13 12 24 11
No. of
Technicians
above
Required
Level
0 0 0 0 4 0 3 7 0 4

Competency :
Present level
(PL-1)
Workplace
management
Selfdiscipline
JobKnowledge
SafetyCompliance
Customer
orientation
Knowledgeoftool
andtackelsand
abilitytomaintain
these
Quality
conciousness
Newinitiativeslike
SHINE,qulitycircle
Teamwork
TimelyCompletion
ofwork
% of
Technicians
below
Required
Level
50.0 83.3 80.0 70.0 46.6 70.0 43.3 40.0 80.0 36.6
Some Inferences –
 The average competencies of the 30 identified technicians is largely below the
required level
 More than 50% of the identified technicians are below the required level of
competencies for 6 areas out of 10 which indicates the need of interventions atleast
in these areas
 Areas such as Job Knowledge, Safety Compliance, Knowledge of tool and tackels
and ability to maintain these and Team work need immediate focus
Some assumptions –
 The opinion bias is not considered
 Error due to the tendency of rating closer to the required level is not considered
Identification of training modules in order to bridge the gaps identified
In order to identify the applicable training intervention so as to bridge the gaps identified post
analysis, one has to consider the areas where in the present level of majority of the sample
is not only below the required level but also the concerned competencies should be relevant
to the processes of the organization in terms of operational improvement and efficiency as
well as adding value to the organization. NDPL being an offshoot of a conventional power
utility set up of Indian Power Sector is largely a labor oriented organization, thus the areas
where training interventions need to be planned should be directly influencing the daily
chores of the technicians. This will also help us analyse the post training impact on the
improvement, whatsoever, and the rise on the levels, if any.

Project Report - MS Vyas - TPDDL - June 2010

Project Report - MS Vyas - TPDDL - June 2010

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