Visual Communications Portfolio

Visit my recently completed Visual Communications Portfolio, with India and China's economic development as the primary theme.

Tata & Infosys manage talent crunch

TCS and Infy step efforts to manage talent crunch (Silicon India, November 6)
Top software services firms of India, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys Technologies are keen on acquisitions to boost their manpower, but are cautious of very large targets. TCS was keen on acquiring new potentials, "We have to acquire capabilities we don't have, that's our strategy," says S. Padmanabhan, Head of Global Human Resources, TCS.

India firms to enhance China's BPO skills

Indian firms to enhance China's BPO skills (Silicon India, November 8)
Two Indian firms signed an initial pact with a Chinese industry body to train Chinese students in skills required in the booming outsourcing sector. To enhance the level of certification and training required for the BPO industry, China-based Xi'an Service Outsourcing Development Association signed a MoU with Starting Point Competence Training and Snam Abrasive. The MoU, signed at the Xian-Bangalore Service Outsourcing conference, stressed on joint efforts to encourage, stimulate and formulate competency developmental activities. This would favor the BPO industry in Xi'an. The city in western China is referred to as the capital of that country's BPO industry.

The Changing Face of American Innovation

An interview with William Kerr in Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge: The Changing Face of American Innovation

The contributions made by immigrant scientists and engineers for developing new U.S. technologies have been formidable—but not always well described.

What we do know: While the foreign-born account for just over 10 percent of the U.S. working population, they represent 25 percent of the U.S. science and engineering workforce and nearly 50 percent of those with science and engineering doctorates. And at the Ph.D. level, ethnic researchers make an exceptional contribution to science as measured by Nobel Prizes, election to the National Academy of Sciences, patent citation counts, and so on.

Now new research based on patent and trademark data by Harvard Business School professor William Kerr drills down to further identify the probable ethnic composition of U.S. inventors, the industries they influence, and the geographies they work in.

But the paper, "The Ethnic Composition of U.S. Inventors," also documents a significant transformation in ethnic composition of U.S. scientists and engineers over the last 30 years, as Chinese and Indian inventors grew in importance as drivers of U.S. innovation...

India's Youth Set Sights Beyond Call Centers

India's Youth Set Sights Beyond Call Centers
(Forbes, October 8)

As India's economy booms, its young workers are no longer so keen on trying to soothe the irate customers of the global companies that outsource their call center jobs in the country. Industries like aviation and retail are among the new favorites for job seekers, says a study. The business process outsourcing sector, which now has attrition rates ranging from 25% to 30%, could see that number climb to 30% to 40% over the next two years, says the study on urban youths; emerging career choices, conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Diaspora Knowledge Network

India moots online global knowledge network CIOL
R Jai Krishna

The electronic platform to enable the Indian Diaspora to work on projects in the country without relocating

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Aimed at enabling the diverse Diaspora to work on projects in India without having to relocate, the Indian government will soon launch an electronic platform, which will serve as an online global knowledge network. The Diaspora Knowledge Network will enable the Indian Diaspora to deploy its knowledge and skills and transform ideas into individual initiatives and community action in India. The platform will enable the Diaspora to work on projects in India without shifting the base. The government will also soon establish a Global Indian Foundation, to provide the Overseas Indian Community a credible window to lead Diaspora philanthropy into deserving causes such as education, health and rural development in India. The Overseas Citizenship of India scheme, which is similar to the Green Card of USA, engages non-resident Indians.The newly-established Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre, a not-for-profit trust, promoted by the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs will also act as the Diaspora’s window to invest in and benefit from India, and will serve as a ‘one stop shop.’The network will bring together about 30 million Indians living in 130 countries across the world. The move assumes added significance in the wake of the estimations that Diaspora will be generate an annual income equal to about 30 per cent of India’s Gross Domestic Product. At present, Indians living abroad produce an economic output of about $400 billion. The Diaspora is estimated to generate an annual income equal to about 30 per cent of India’s GDP. India is already the highest recipient of remittances from overseas at over $23 billion last year. Interestingly nearly half of these remittances – about $12 billion annually - comes from just five million overseas Indians in the Gulf.

India's up-n-coming see the glass half full

Youth In India Are Most Optimistic (Forbes, September 22)

When it comes to global happiness, young Indians score the highest, while Japan’s “now” generation rounds out the bottom of the list, says a new survey. “Indian youth are strikingly more optimistic about their own future and also about the future of society. The general picture in other countries is that young people tend to be personal optimists but societal pessimists,” said Mats Lindgren, CEO and founder of Kairos Future Group. He is visiting New Delhi Friday to present the Indian findings of the survey by the Swedish group.

Quest for Humanity in Corporate Atlanta

Quest for humanity in corporate Atlanta: Finding a place for the teacher idealist in corporate workforce development

IT&D On-site: Fortune 500 Logistics Company

Hosted by:
Learning & Development Manager
Head of Training & Development
Organizational Development
Instructional Design Supervisor
Information Systems
Learning & Development Manager, Corporate Schools
Enterprise Technology Hub
Compliance & Ethics Group

Philosophy: In the case of this organization, the philosophy of the company seems to be the philosophy of the instructional teams we met: “One company; one brand; one vision.” As a classmate ferreted out, the leadership philosophy is also “Servant leadership.” The presentations about the Career Development Process and the Management Learning & Development Process also revealed a strong philosophy of investing in their employees and providing a myriad of opportunities within the organization. Since this company is 100 years old and this training session was the first time we heard the word “union” mentioned, I was reminded of the important roles IT & D and organizational development theories have played in reshaping the employer/employee relationship over the last century in the US.

Taking clues from what we were presented, most of the teams seem to function primarily under objectivist principles. This is not surprising. They must set Health & Safety as its highest priority; similar to the Public Transportation System, as a transportation company, they have no room for mistakes when it comes to training drivers. Yet, in addition to the objectivist style training, the components of social networking shown by the Enterprise Technology Hub are decidedly the most constructivist learning environments we’ve seen in our site visits so far.

Strategy: As with the philosophy, the strategy of the company as a whole informs the strategy of the learning & development team:

Four Strategic Imperatives:
1) Value Added Solutions;
2) Enterprise of Excellence;
3) Building a Winning Team; &
4) Customer Focus.

They also showed signs of using the typical ADDIE model as their strategy for understanding needs, and shaping, developing, implementing and evaluating their solutions. For example, they performed a needs analysis by asking local teams to identify needs for their shared services initiative.

Like the Fortune 500 Printing Services Company, this organization wants their training to be just in time and more mobile.

Tactics: We were introduced to several interesting and innovative tactics during this session, but the word count limit on our site reports will limit me to list only a few of the highlights here:
Shared Services Initiative
Professional and useful interactive simulations
Muscle-memory training for walking
Social networking
Learning Management System: SCORM (Reiser & Dempsey (2007) provide detailed information of this on pg. 293 and point us to a website for more information http://www.adlnet.org/)
Community Internship Program

Resources:ASTD
Maisey Consortium

I was very interested in the Community Internship Program and wanted to post a note about it to see who else might want to discuss it.

They introduced this program to develop more understanding between managers and their staff by requiring managers to spend time in the communities of their fellow employees.

This is a particularly interesting strategy to me in the context of my research into the US-India workforce connections. The external pressures and infrastructural challenges of living in India are quite overwhelming, and it seems that an understanding of this environment could go a long way in bridging the gap between US & Indian team members.

This program also reminded me of McClusky's (1963) theory of margin that posits a ratio of load and power in an adult learner's life. The theory of margin provides a framework to consider the real world context of the adult learner's life circumstances when designing instruction.

What better way to understand the external load of your participants' lives than to live within their community for an extended period of time?

The next best resource for this for India so far is Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days Episode 2 on Outsourcing.

IT&D Pros: Language Lab Coordinator, State U

Shadowing Tracy Dodge*, Language Lab Coordinator, Department of Modern & Classical Languages, State University
*This is a pseudonym for the participant who will remain anonymous.
This observation began with an interview, during which I received a job description document. After the interview, Tracy allowed me to shadow her as she completed several duties of her job.

Details of Interview

Personal Career History
Tracy began working at State University as an adjunct Spanish Instructor. She then became the Administrative Coordinator for Modern & Classical Languages, and after writing a tech free proposal for the Language Acquisition and Resource Center became the Language Lab Coordinator.

Organizational Structure
The Language Acquisition and Resource Center (LARC) is a support lab for the Department for Modern & Classical Languages and the Department of ESL & Applied Linguistics. The Language Lab Coordinator reports to the Chair of the Department for Modern & Classical Languages.

Responsibilities
The responsibilities of this position include: supervision of Language Lab staff of student assistants; management of lab resources, including computers, A/V equipment and multimedia materials; procurement of funding for lab resources; consultation with faculty for technology integration in language classrooms; definition and documentation of internal procedures; and production of LARC communications.

Job Tasks Described in Interview
Tracy described her job as having two components: daily tasks and visioneering.

Daily Tasks
Tracy provides personal consultations with faculty to train them to use the control console, conduct assessments, move between activities and integrate certain applications into their course design. She also stays on-hand for lab setup and t
She also works with students as the LARC is an open lab for language students. She regularly advises students on study skills, study abroad programs and classes. She also provides technology troubleshooting help.
Tracy is responsible for needs assessment, hiring and evaluating lab personnel.
Tracy is the webmaster for the LARC site and maintains a WebCT board for student assistants containing documents and forms related to lab procedures.
Tracy collects extensive data on lab usage and submits quarterly reports to the Department Chair.

Visioneering
Tracy explained that she is responsible for the development and progress of the lab and spends significant time working towards goals for the LARC. For example, she considers what is needed for tech fee proposals, evaluates software for use in the lab and for managing the resources of the lab, and optimizes the use of the lab space.
Tracy regularly attends meetings across campus for collaborative purposes. For example, on the day of this observation, she planned to attend a UETS meeting featuring Horizon Wimba, a textbook with electronic components.
She is also currently designing a course, Foreign Language Educators and Technology, and proposing to host a conference for the International Association of Learning & Technology.

Challenges
Tracy finds it difficult to focus on visioneering because of the constant pull of her daily tasks in the lab. She is an involved manager and required to be on-site as much as possible.

Future Personal Goals
Tracy is currently in the process of reclassifying her job to Associate Director of the LARC because the current the term “coordinator” in her current title does not accurately characterize the level of autonomy and supervisory responsibility assigned to the position.

Job Tasks Observed

• Answering staff questions about immediate problems
• Class set up
• Data collection/Management
• Troubleshooting computer problems
• Managing Staff
• Managing materials
• Faculty consulting
• Printer services
• Scheduling student assistants
• Proposal to host IALLT conference

Document Analysis

Created web lesson on Document Analysis

OGoBiblios11

Yadapadithaya, P. S. (2001, December)
Training Evaluation
Evaluating corporate training and development: An Indian experience. International Journal of Training & Development, Vol. 5, Issue 4.
Survey
Yadapathiya (2001) surveys large corporations (more than 500 employees) in India (public, private and multinational) about training policies and practices. The survey reveals an increase in attention to training from 1991-99 following the introduction of the New Industrial Policy (NIP) which emphasized India’s transition to a market-oriented, global economy. At the time of this study 100% of the multinational corporations in India reported regular practices of training-needs analysis and evaluation of training programs, while the public and private Indian corporations reported only 80-85%.
The results also indicate the perceived deficiencies of the training and development programs including lack of clear policies, lack of results (“absence of transfer of learning”) and failure to evaluate effectiveness.
Use of training by multinational corporations in India is well-established. However, development of systematic training and development in Indian companies is relatively new (last 15 years).
Focus on individual development in Indian training practices lags severely behind that of the multinational corporations.
Uses Kirkpatrick’s rubric for evaluating training. Similar to the US, reactions are regularly gathered. More than half of Indian companies and over 90% of MNCs reported use of the second level of evaluation. Less than 30% of Indian public & private sector companies reported use of the third level of evaluation while close to 90% of MNCs reported the evaluation of behavioral changes. The difficulty of evaluating results is highlighted by the low percentage of India-only based companies (less than 10%) and MNCs (65%) reporting the use of this measure.
· Provides a useful breakdown of instruments used for data collection.

OGoBiblios9

Popli, S. (2005, April)
Training Evaluation
Ensuring customer delight: a quality approach to excellence in management education. Quality in Higher Education, Vol. 11 Issue 1
Survey/Interview
Popli approaches students in business education as customers and seeks to measure their satisfaction. Her evaluation of their training satisfies Kirkpatrick’s first level, reactions. Popli asks her participants to rate the level of importance and satisfaction with the following features of their management institute education: course organization, learning and teaching, placement, computing, library, and student services. Results show management students found learning & teaching and placement most important, and were more satisfied with learning & teaching than placement.
· Small sample, 80 students
· This methodology satisfies Kirkpatrick’s first level, reactions.
· Discusses shift in India’s underlying curricular theories similar to US- from teacher to self-directed learning (Knowles) and more focus on “how to learn” than “what to learn.”
· The quality of education concerns and the lack of fully developed accreditation standards make this type of research important.

Secrets of Offshoring Success

Editorial in CIO

India's Science Education

THE HINDU, FEBRUARY 19, 2007
China shows the way in science education
Gautam R. Desiraju

Style & Form in Writing the Dissertation Proposal

Presentation for class based on Proposals that Work, 4th Ed. by Lawrence F. Locke, Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, & Stephen J. Silverman

What's Next for India: Beyond the Back Office

Dear e-educator:

To read the full text: Boston Consulting Group - Knowledge Wharton Report
The report is titled: "What’s next for India: Beyond the Back Office".

Cheers,

Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship

India Acquires Western Companies

NY Times Article India Revels in Being the Buyer

From Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship

http://www.usindiafriendship.net/

Yoga in US public schools

An example of the reciprocal exchange with India.

Beyond the Program of Study Presentation

Presentation site for a discussion of the expectations for graduate teaching & research assistantships & faculty members.

India's Rising Growth Potential

Dear e-educator:

In its latest assessment dated January 22, 2007, of India's long-term economic outlook, which is titled, "India's Rising Growth Potential," Goldman Sachs suggests that India's influence on the world economy will be bigger and quicker than implied in its previously published BRICs research. (BRICs stand for "Brazil, Russia, India and China")

To read the full report, please log on to http://www.usindiafriendship.net/ and click the first topic under "Most recent Viewpoints", which is titled, "New Goldman Sachs Report: India's Rising Growth Potential, January 22, 2007 (PDF). "

Cheers,

Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship
http://www.usindiafriendship.net/