We’re here today to talk about the Magic quadrant for business intelligence and analytics platforms, which is published annually by Gartner.

We hope to answer questions like –

• Is SAS the best software in Analytics ?
• What is the standing of Microsoft when it comes to Analytics (Excel , Access , SQL)
• How good is Tableau in the eyes of the Analytics world?

(What is Gartner?  Gartner is the world’s leading IT research and advisory company which delivers technology related insights from CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations to the general public .All of us use Gartner and its reports to come to conclusions about the various software suites we would like to buy.)

Over the last decade, the world of business intelligence and analytics has undergone a change. As organisations have adopted business intelligence and started looking at the data for measurement and reporting purposes, the next level was to try and do prediction forecasting and optimisation on the same data. Because of this growing importance of advanced analytics, the organisation started looking at solutions which could deliver end to end services. Over the last few years we see software suits which have both BI and predictive analytics capabilities.

Thus Analytics software as of today are expected to be able to provide services across 17 categories

1. Reporting
2. Dashboards. What is the difference between reporting and  dashboards ? It is a style of reporting that uses a lot of graphics to show performance measures
3. Ad-hoc reports and queries
4. Microsoft Office integration
5. Mobile BI-  which enables organisations to develop and deliver content on mobile devices
6. Interactive visualisation -which enables the exploration of data via the manipulation of chart images. This includes an add in of visualisation options that go beyond the normal pie chart, bargraph etc. and could include heat and tree maps scatter plots other special-purpose visuals etc.
7. Search-based data discovery – this applies a search index to structured and unstructured data sources
8. Geospatial and locational intelligence- which is specialised analytics and visualisations that provide a geography, spatial and a time context
9. Embedded advanced analytics -which will enable users to levitate statistical functions library embedded in the BI server
10. Online analytical processing or OLAP- this allows users to analyse data with fast query and calculation performance enabling slicing and dicing of data
11. BI infrastructure and Administration -which enables all tools in the platform to use the same security , meta data , query engine etc. That platform should support multi tenancy.
12. Meta data management
13. Business user data modelling- which would be free drag-and-drop user driven data combinations
14. Development tools
15. Embeddable analytics -which would be tools including a software developer’s Kit with APIs for creating and modifying analytical content, visualisations etc. and embedding them into a business process
16. Collaboration -which would enable users to share and discuss information analysis chat etc.
17. Support for big data sources -which is the ability to support and query hybrid, columnar and array-based data sources, such as MapReduce and other NoSQL databases

 

(source:-http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1QLGACN&ct=140210&st=sb )

What does Gartner say about SAS ? I am sure this is the question that’s in your mind . Since I started my Analytics journey with SAS , it is the most important question in my mind .

1. 1.      SAS

SAS’s analytics portfolio spans platforms for BI, performance management, data warehousing, in-memory databases, data integration, data quality, decision management, and content and social analytics, with a core strength being advanced analytics. SAS also offers industry- and domain-specific analytic applications built on its product portfolio.

Strengths

• SAS’s analytics portfolio spans platforms for BI, performance management, data warehousing, in-memory databases, data integration, data quality, and content and social analytics. However, unlike most other BI platform vendors, SAS’s core strength is in its advanced analytical techniques, such as data mining, predictive modeling, simulation and optimization, for which it is acknowledged as a Leader in “Magic Quadrant for Advanced Analytics Platforms.”
• Historically, SAS tools have been used primarily by power users, data scientists and IT-centric BI developers. That this remains the case is shown by SAS customers placing it above any other vendor in the Magic Quadrant survey in terms of support for complex types of analysis, but giving it one of the lowest scores for ease of use. During the past five years, SAS has been investing heavily in revamping its user experience to change this situation and encourage more mainstream user adoption. This aggressive and unmatched strategy is part of the reason for SAS’s favorable Completeness of Vision position.
• SAS also differentiates itself from most other BI platform vendors by productizing and selling industry- and domain-specific advanced analytic applications that are focused on specific business problems and built using many of its technology platform products. This enables it to sell “value,” rather than components.
• Data access and integration and the ability to support large volumes of data are the main reasons customers choose SAS, according to the survey. In fact, while SAS deployments support a below-average number of users, its data volumes are among the highest in the survey.

Cautions

• SAS customers consider its software among the most difficult to use and most difficult to implement, with ease of use for business users being identified as a limitation on broader deployment by a higher percentage of customers than for any other vendor.
• Although SAS has exploited its core competency in predictive analytics to encapsulate and automate advanced analysis for business-user-oriented guided data discovery in Visual Analytics, it will face competition from data discovery and BI and analytics platform vendors with leading-edge data discovery capabilities, such as Tableau and Tibco.
• Despite SAS’s success as a Leader in the predictive analytics space, the company still faces a challenge to make it onto BI platform shortlists, unless customers already use its other advanced analytic capabilities and require integration and leverage of skills.
• SAS’s reference customers rated functionality used in traditional BI areas (reporting, dashboards, OLAP, interactive visualization and so on) lower than for most of the other BI Leaders

 

Microsoft Excel 2010 with its analysis toolpak has been quoted by me as being one of the most easy-to-use analytics tools. Let’s see what Gartner says about Microsoft.

1. 2.      Microsoft

Microsoft offers a competitive and expanding set of BI and analytics capabilities, packaging and pricing that appeal to Microsoft developers, independent distributors and now to business users. It does so through a combination of enhanced BI and data discovery capabilities in Office (Excel) 2013, data management capabilities in SQL Server, and collaboration, content, and user and usage management capabilities in SharePoint.

Strengths

• Of the megavendors, Microsoft has made the most progress toward delivering a combination of business user capabilities with an enterprise-capable platform. Microsoft delivered business-user-oriented data discovery and other BI capabilities in Excel 2013.
• Microsoft has made early investments in its cloud-based BI offering, Power BI. Microsoft’s strategy is to use the cloud to increase adoption of its new and most competitive BI capabilities in Excel (starting with Excel 2013), and to accelerate enhancements to Excel to every six months.
• n the customer survey conducted for this Magic Quadrant, more Microsoft customers cited TCO and license cost as their main reasons for selecting Microsoft as a BI vendor than did those of most of the other vendors.
• Microsoft composite product score was above average across the 17 capabilities, when weighted for use. Microsoft customers appreciate its strong BI infrastructure and development tools. They also rated its reporting, ad hoc query, Microsoft Office integration, business user data mashup, embedded BI, collaboration, search BI and OLAP capabilities higher than the survey average. Importantly, unlike those of its megavendor competitors, Microsoft’s customers rated customer experience (support and product quality) above the survey average.

 

Cautions

• Although Microsoft’s functional ratings have improved and it can offer a wide range of functions, it also has one of the highest percentages of users who say that absent or weak functionality is among the main reasons limiting broader deployment of its software. Mobile BI, interactive visualization and metadata management remain product weaknesses reported by customers.
• Multiproduct complexity remains a challenge, now primarily for on-premises and hybrid deployments. Because Microsoft’s BI platform capabilities span three different tools (Office, SQL Server and SharePoint) that also perform non-BI functions, the task of integrating components and building applications is left mainly to the customer.
• Although Microsoft’s partner-driven sales model drives global growth for the company, Gartner’s inquiries suggest that this approach often makes it difficult for customers to find their Microsoft sales representative. This causes frustration .

 

I increasingly see Tableau becoming an integral part of the reporting structure in most KPOs. Let’s see what the Gartner’s report has to say about this software.

1. 3.      Tableau

Tableau’s highly intuitive, visual-based data discovery, dashboarding, and data mashup capabilities have transformed business users’ expectations about what they can discover in data and share without extensive skills or training with a BI platform.

Strengths

• Tableau offers an intuitive, visual-based interactive data exploration experience that customers rate highly .Its core differentiator — making a range of types of analysis (from simple to complex) accessible and easy for the ordinary business user, whom Tableau effectively transforms into a “data superhero.
• Tableau has a focused vision with an evolutionary road map for enabling users to meet enterprise requirements for reusability, scalability and embeddability. Tableau’s strong survey results for customer satisfaction, coupled with its market momentum, are behind its dominant Ability to Execute position.
• Tableau provides purpose-built, business-oriented data mashup capabilities with data connectors that use Tableau’s VizQL technology. Direct query access has been a strength of the platform since the product’s inception. Tableau offers a broad range of support for direct-query SQL and MDX data sources, as well as a number of Hadoop distributions, native support for Google BigQuery, and support for search-based data discovery platforms, such as Attivio.

Cautions

• Although Tableau’s average user count continues to grow and was above the market average in this year’s customer survey, its products are often used to complement an existing BI platform standard; only 42% of its customers considered it as their BI standard.Ttraditional BI platform vendors with substantial installed-base market shares but lacking in growth momentum, including IBM, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, SAP and SAS, are aggressively investing in their own data discovery capabilities to reverse the trend.
• Tableau’s customers report a below-average sales experience, which includes the entire sales life cycle from presales activities to contracting, pricing and the ongoing sales relationship.
• Tableau continues to expand its international presence, but the majority of its customers are likely to be large (often international) companies located in North America. Tableau has opened sales offices in Europe and Asia (for example, Singapore) and introduced support in Asia; it also plans further global sales expansion with live, time-zone-appropriate support in local languages.

Want to know more ? Look up the complete article at http://indiadecisionmanagement.com/the-best-analytics-software-2014/

If you want to interact with me , mail me at subhashini@indiadecisionmanagement.com

As per the definition, “The selling concept holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone, won’t buy enough of the organisation’s products.” In simple words, the selling concept means selling what the organisation makes by advertising, door-to-door selling, discounts and promotions, etc. Evolving from production concept and product concept, selling concept gained significance as one of the earlier marketing ideas.

‘Sell what you make’ sounds familiar. Think about the insurance business. It’s been weeks and you have left an insurance agent hanging to buy an insurance policy for yourself to secure your wife’s and children’s future when you won’t be around. You might feel, what is the need to cover whole life? Accidents? Medical treatments? All these get covered, so why have life insurance. But the agent is not ready to budge. You tell him to call some other time and he does not fail to call you. This is ‘Hard Selling’. Yes, it is hard because neither you are ready to buy it promptly nor you feel the need. It is also hard selling for the agent as he has to sell the policy, because his chance to earn extra commission depends upon your purchase.

The selling concept adopted by companies, cash in on its numerous benefits. Firstly, Cost. You’re going to sell a product which gives you cost advantage. A firm with the intention of becoming a cost leadership firm will practice selling. Secondly, Profits. Lower costs, higher profits. Hard selling leads to higher sales volumes. Your selling team will put in more efforts to increase your sales when you reward them handsomely.

After the three benefits listed, now think of me as an agent, who has come to your doorstep to sell you a water purifier from XYZ Co, a new company trying to make its mark in India. The moment you look at me, you tell me you don’t need a water purifier. Still I insist you to see a demonstration, you let me in, I give a demonstration and based on its benefits you buy the product. The use the product for a month and your electricity bill shoots up due to the new device. Now you’re bad mouthing the XYZ Co., complaining about the product. Hard selling has its own share of risks. I have diluted XYZ’s brand value, even before it was created.

Many of us mistake selling concept with the product concept. Yes, you sell what you make. Here, you pull the customers to buy your product, unlike in selling concept, where you are pushing the product in the face of the customers. The product concept brings in continuous innovation whereas selling brings in cost leadership. Consider Apple’s IPod, a unique product, introduced in the era of MP3 players. It brought in invention and innovation through its features and portability. MP3 players and IPod had the same use. It cannibalized sales for MP3 manufacturers i.e. wiping off competition from its rivals (Sony, Phillips), entering a new segment and building brand value for its new product. 13 years from its launch and no imitations.

Today, firms want to create a long lasting relationship with their customers. They want their customers to buy their product throughout their lifetime, also, recommend the same to others. These firms believe they can create brand value for their firms only if they focus on customer satisfaction. Thus they manufacture what the customer wants i.e. they make what sells in the market. In 1960, Theodore Levitt, lecturer at Harvard Business School introduced a new concept ‘The Marketing Myopia’. He pointed out the short-sightedness of the firms practising the selling concept. These firms believed in selling what they make ignoring their customer needs. Marketing Myopia brought in the Marketing concept. Levitt said, selling focuses on the needs of the seller and marketing on the needs of the buyer. It is about finding the right product for your target group and not the right people for your product.

According to the marketing concept, you find the needs of your target group. Design and manufacture a product which is exact to your target group’s needs. When you are aware of the demand for your product, your inventory is low. The probability of your product failing is zeroed down. Also, it’s an answer to the increasing competition. If you produce a product according to the specifications of your consumers, your customer are not leaving you and going to your competitors. You will build up customer loyalty. If your company is to launch a new product, it can do that under the brand name and take advantage of this customer loyalty.

Marketing concept helps you in coming up with your own Unique Selling Proposition (USP). It also helps in creating brand value for the particular product. For instance, Tanishq, one of the leading jewellery selling brands in India, under the house of TATA, has created its own brand value. Avoiding irrelevant costs and demand forecasts are outcomes for the firms following marketing concept. Another aspect is the focus groups. The discussions led by these groups will help you realise if your product is upto your customer expectations and how much are they willing to pay.

Dell is respected as the industry leader in the segment of personal computers. Their marketing strategy involves making the product according to the specifications of the customer and delivering them personally. This has helped Dell to build customer loyalty and reduce costs. Customization of products also helps in charging a premium price. Its competitors (HP, Lenovo) have focused on reducing prices of their personal computers by reducing costs. However, Dell has been able to save its highest market share in the segment by not focusing on reducing the cost, thus, not comprising its product.

In the recent years, we have seen a gradual shift towards societal and holistic concept. Companies have now started adopting these concepts for the greater good of their customers and the society. They indulge in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) activities to interact with its customers and the society at large. This helps in gaining visibility, understanding the changing customer needs and increasing the customer base.

Article by Divyanka Gangurde

Anxiety is not new to us. Remember the first time you climbed the stage to perform at your school’s fancy dress competition or a recital. The heavy lump you felt in your belly, making you sick and sweat. Anxiety before the interview is exactly the same thing.

Anxiety occurs when you know you have to give your best shot, often referred to as performance anxiety. When you have an important decision to take which is going to affect your life. When you have an interview which is going to get you closer to your dream, you tend to feel anxious, because you want to make no mistakes which will ruin your chances.

Anxiety is an emotion. You’re bound to feel anxious, when you have an action plan but don’t know how to execute it. When you know you have to do certain things, but are not able to do the same as worry creeps in. What does one really worry about before an interview- his/her inability to answer an asked question, feeling awkward or conscious while being scrutinized by the interviewers from content to fluency to body language, one’s unpreparedness or cognizance, fear of committing mistakes from past interviews, when it’s your dream job and don’t want to mess things up, when you have inadequate or vague information about the job description (responsibilities), when you feel under-qualified for the job specifications (KSAs) the post demands?

Stand in the waiting area, you will see a number of candidates reading current affairs or going through the answers they have prepared for specific questions or asking others questions to clear their own doubts. Yes, your fellow interviewees are feeling anxious, too. Anxiety is common and exists in every human being. Only the level of anxiety and the way to manage/hide it differs from person to person.

In fact being anxious is a good sign. It reflects that you are aware of yourself and in control of your actions. It also shows that you are looking forward to something and don’t want things which are out of your control, to get in the way.  Though little anxiety is always good to keep things in control, but higher level of anxiety may lead to nervous breakdown, shaking one’s confidence, forgetting the little things which do matter a lot, such as greeting the interviewers or shaking hands or even forgetting to smile. I may say that anxiety is good but do not show it to your interviewers. They may take it as the sign of unpreparedness or even low level of confidence.Your interviewers will not take time to gauge if you are nervous as the symptoms are obvious such as feeling nausea, fumbling during hand-shake or handing over documents or talking, sweating, choking (or losing your voice while answering), answering in a low voice (will show disinterest towards the particular job or lack of confidence), taking a lot of time to think on a question, freezing (not able to think on the questions asked), forgetting important documents, not able to sit stable, fidgeting or not looking at the interviewers while answering their questions.

Avoid the above to beat the interview blues. But at the same time, it is also the interviewer’s first responsibility to make the candidate comfortable. When the interviewer begins the interview asking you about your hobbies/interests, your journey to the venue and questions which are not related to the job, s/he is trying to make you comfortable. What’s in for the interviewers? Talking about interests/ hobbies helps in finding whether the candidate is a good fit. So my advice is that you should answer their questions with complete honesty.

It is not possible to eliminate anxiety completely, thus, you should focus on minimising it. To overcome and manage anxiety, I suggest the following-

1. Be Prepared- Practice interview sessions with your peer or family members or a person who has conducted interviews before. Handover company description, industry background and the job profile you have applied for. Also, provide them with questions you are preparing for. Ask them your areas of improvements to work on and any other questions which may be asked. Also it is important to ask them if you make any common mistakes which appear while answering the questions and tell them to observe your body language. Ask for their suggestions. Take this practice very seriously.
2. Practice commonly asked questions-Interviewers have common questions in place, such as tell me about yourself, what are your hobbies/ interests, what is your dream job, where do you want to be ten years down the line and many others. List down the most common questions and try answering them in 200 words. Practice them well but do not memorize the answers. If you memorize them and happen to forget a line in between, you will try and remember the answer in front of the interviewer which will create a bad impression.
3. Back answers with your  experience and how it will fit the desired job description-The common questions asked by employers in this context are what major challenges and problems you faced, how did you handle them, tell us a situation where you had to show your leadership qualities, which is your biggest achievement so far. Remember to back every answer with an instance from your previous job, the situation you faced, how did you handle it, how has it helped. Also, try to link the same with the job profile you are applying for and how will it help in the future.
4. Understanding that unexpected questions will also pop up-If the interviewers happen to ask questions which are not prepared by you, try not to act very surprised. If you are not able to think on the same lines, ask for a few seconds without hesitating and think upon the same and then reply calmly. Do not take a very long time to reply. If you feel you do not know how to answer the question, tell them you don’t know, but do not do it for every question.
5. Understand what the job asks- Make sure you have complete idea of the job, its responsibilities and KSAs required. Connect to the people who are working at the same position and ask about their work. Questions asked related to the job must be answered properly.
6. Research about the company- Many a times, interviewers asks questions related to their companies and the latest news surrounding them. You should be able to handle such questions as it shows your level of interest in working for the company.
7. Know your resume- It is crucial that all the things mentioned in the resume are true. The most likely resume based questions to be asked are- run me through your interview, your hobbies/interests, what were the roles for the post you held.
8. Keeping Asked and Required Documents in place- You should make it a point to gather the asked documents as soon as you receive the call letter. Arrange the documents, so when asked for a particular document you are able to hand it over without a minute’s delay.
9. A good nap- Have a goodnight’s sleep so you will wake up fresh for your interview. Do not avoid breakfast. Avoiding sleep and food leads to insomnia and nausea, respectively.
10. Wear comfortable clothes- Dress formally but choose clothes and shoes in which you will be comfortable. If you are uneasy wearing a tie, then carry one with you and wear it if the other candidates wear it too. Avoid dark colours which will make you sweat.
11. Reaching venue before time- Start from your place early to avoid reaching late due to traffic or difficulty in finding the venue or any such reasons. Reach before the stipulated time to look around and relax yourself.
12. Waiting time- The Waiting time is more stressful. Utilise this time to interact with other candidates, to loosen up and relax!Ask them where they worked before, what are their qualifications. Asking the ones’ interviewed before you the questions that interviewers asked, it will help you to understand what the interviewers are looking for.
13. Be Honest- During the interview do not answer any question with incomplete information. Get your facts and figures right. Your resume should not contain anything which is alien to you.

Think Positive, be Confident, be Yourself!

Article by Divyanka Gangurde

The personal interview (PI) is an important part of B-school selection process. It is your chance to impress the panelists and succeed. It may be the first interview for most of the candidates applying for a B-school admission. Yet, some candidates prepare so well that they glide their way smoothly through the interview process.

The personal interview is generally the final step towards admission and is the hardest round to clear in the selection process for the MBA program. This may be attributed to the fact that in spite of your rigorous preparation, you may not be able to predict the questions that the interviewer might ask. At times, the interviewers may even pose unexpected questions that can make you feel uncomfortable. In such situations, you must try to stay calm and focused while answering questions, as such questions are meant to test your ability to act under stress.

Candidates are not expected to come up with a correct answer for every question. But they are expected to give answers that make sense. So, try to give thoughtful answers in an honest way without committing the mistakes that can come in the way of your selection.

A list of the common mistakes that candidates must avoid during an interview can be of help in the last minute preparations. Here are some of the most common mistakes that must be avoided to be able to make a positive impact on the interviewer.

Reporting Late for the Interview

Try to make every effort to be present for the interview well before the scheduled time. This would allow you to feel relaxed and be at ease. But, in case of an emergency, do make it a point to inform the college authorities in time.

If you have informed the college with a valid reason for your delay, it would demonstrate your professionalism. On the contrary, arriving late for the interview without informing the interviewer would make a negative impact.

Dressing up Inappropriately

The interview at the B-school could be the first chance at the formal interview for most of the candidates. So, it is necessary that they do not end up making blunders on that front. The right way to go for the interview is wearing a business suit—neat and nicely ironed—with polished formal shoes. Girls should avoid bright colored business suits, heavy make-up, gaudy jewelry and bold perfumes. Boys, on the other hand, should avoid wearing informal/ semi-formal clothes, at the worse—going absolutely casual.

Going Off the Track

Avoid going off the track or giving irrelevant answers. For example, if the interviewer asks you “what are your views on the current financial policies adopted by India’s Finance Minister? do not present your views on America’s or any other country’s financial policies just for the sake of showing off your knowledge.

Furthermore, you should not be evasive about questions on your weak areas such as poor grades. Do not try to hide anything. Instead, try to give honest answers to make a positive impact on the interviewer. It is better not to give excuses for your past failures or lack of determination and hard work to achieve the goals.

Avoiding Eye Contact

A confident candidate, who has prepared well for the interview is expected to give answers by making good eye contact with the interviewer. Maintaining eye contact with the interviewer shows that the candidate is confident and cares about what the interviewer is saying. Making eye contact also demonstrates that the candidate is actively engaged in the discussion.

Absence of eye contact or even an inconsiderate handshake can indicate that you are not confident and trying to hide something. The advice is to be confident and let it show through your body language.

Exaggeration and Overstating

It is better not to exaggerate facts or lie about something just to impress the interview panelists. The interview panel is more experienced and smart than you are. Trying to hide certain facts can be annoying for any interviewer and might hurt your chance of obtaining admission to the B-school of your choice.

Misleading facts and overstated information can never take you too far. So, be yourself and structure your answers around authentic facts and figures.

Not Using Your Past Achievements to Impress    

Candidates who tell their success stories from the past will have more chances to crack the interview as opposed to candidates who do not t talk about their past accomplishments. Try to talk about the situations when you achieved your goal or target in spite of unfavorable conditions. This would demonstrate your perseverance and hard work to accomplish your goals. For example, if a candidate has succeeded in getting good grades in his high school examinations despite the fact that he was participating in the district level cricket tournament which was coinciding with the examinations. It can be a good rationale to prove that you can multi-task and yet deliver good performance.

Not Maintaining Decorum

It shows lack of manners when you speak with the interviewer by calling his or her first name unless the interviewer allows you. The interviewer might get offended when you address the interviewers by their first names. Similarly, candidates are not expected to ask personal questions without the permission of an interviewer as it may suggest that the candidate is unprofessional.        

Interrupting the Interviewer        

It is unprofessional to interrupt when the interviewer is speaking. Wait until the interviewer has completed his statement and reply accordingly. If you make haste while answering the questions or interrupt the interviewer, it would demonstrate your impatience, and over-confidence. So, never interrupt the interviewer.

Lack of Preparation        

When it is your chance to ask some questions, do not mute your expressions and give an impression as if you do not have anything to ask. Utilize this opportunity to express your thoughts and future prospects in the college. Candidates who do not ask questions when they get the chance generally portray their lack of preparation and unwillingness to know more about the college. Try to prepare 3-4 relevant questions before the interview that you would like to ask about the college, if given a chance.

Reacting Negatively

You should not react negatively by making inappropriate statements in response to the opinions made by other candidates, current students or even alumni of the college. It would be immature and unprofessional on your part to react negatively to the views expressed by other candidates or current students of the college. It is advised to maintain a neutral view to the statements made by others.

Remember, your first impression is going to make an everlasting impact. Try to make this impact a positive one by avoiding these common mistakes during the interview process. Do what it takes to prepare appropriately for the interview to be able to impress the panelists. Prepare thoroughly, try to give answers honestly, and be yourself. All the Best!

“When our research tracked 20,000 new hires, 46% of them failed within 18 months. But even more surprising than the failure rate, was that when new hires failed, 89% of the time it was for attitudinal reasons and only 11% of the time for a lack of skill. “

These are the findings shared by Mark Murphy founder & CEO of Leadership IQ, a leading management and employee engagement experts quoted in his book “Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude”.

These and such findings reiterate the need for today’s organizations to hire candidates for a right attitude. While the importance of Technical competency cannot be underplayed, slowly and steadily Soft skills and attitude have acquired a very critical position in firming up hiring decisions. This phenomenon has also been gaining momentum thanks to the myriad of academic papers and Practical Wisdom that has emphasized the significance of the “right attitude in the right body.” Furthermore investing in Training and Development can train employees for technical expertise. However, the same cannot be easily achieved in case of attitudinal restructuring. As Herb Kelleher, former Southwest Airlines CEO used to say, “We can change skill levels through training, but we can’t change attitude.”

Recently an IT solutions based Organization expressed a desire to have a training program designed for their Team and Project Heads on Hiring Skills. While these key people were involved in conducting the technical round interviews, the top management saw a tremendous need to develop a mind-frame for their employees to identify a right hire by looking beyond relevant work experience and technical competency. The reason… of late they have had cases of seemingly right fit that quit or are asked to quit due to an attitudinal misfit.

Attempts to hire for a right attitude may take many forms:

Psychometric testing

The objective of a Psychometric assessment exercise may extend from quantifying innate personality qualities to organizational behavioral characteristics such as citizenship behavior. The findings of the Tata Strategic Management Group study as reported by the Economic Times in February 2014 indicate that “an increasing number of Indian organizations are using psychometric instruments to facilitate objective people decisions. The survey suggests that adoption rate could move from a current 52% to 87% by 2016. The psychometric battery may include time tested instruments such as MBTI, 16 PF test to relatively newer tools such as Thomas Profiling

Behavioral Event Interview (BEI)

Another attempt for right hiring includes Behavioral Event Interview (BEI). Also known as “competency-based interviews” or “targeted selection”, the goal of the BEI is to ask specific instances from the candidates past which could reflect a work-based expression of specific job related competencies. BEI is based on the premise that Past behavior predicts future success. Additionally, BEI provides an opportunity to the interview panels to use a standardized assessment method to measure the responses and qualifications of their prospects. A typical example to assess conflict management could be “What is your typical way of dealing with conflict?  Give me an example.”

Ann Rhoades, PRES and founder of People Ink, an experienced Human Resources expert having served as the Chief People Officer of Southwest Airlines, Promus Hotel Company and JetBlue Airways has been firmly believes in connecting to the person behind the face of the candidates to gauge their attitudinal make up and coachability. Her favorite question is “Tell me about the last time you broke the rules.” Her candid belief is that a long silence or a noncommittal response is an indication that a candidate is trying to figure out what she wants to hear. “The good ones,” she says, “don’t care.”

Targeted Selection

Some organizations also follow the Byham model, wherein companies work to understand their star performers, identify their target behaviors and attitudes, and then develop interview questions to find people with those attributes. Bill Byham, and CEO of Pittsburgh-based Development Dimensions International (DDI) and a pioneer of “Targeted Selection” method of hiring propounds that the best way to select people who’ll thrive in your company is to identify the personal characteristics of people who are already thriving and hire people just like them.

Simulations

Another modern method of hiring people with a right balance of Knowledge Skill and Attitude (KSA) involves the Simulation methods. Very popular with MNCs such as IBM, Toyota, this exercise comprises of establishing simulation assemblies. Charles Austin, an Atlanta-based consultant with DDI, has helped organizations design such facility. He says “people who don’t have the mental stamina to meet BMW’s “aerobic workplace” requirements don’t get hired.” Similar facilities have been built for other automakers (including Toyota and Subaru). For another simulation built for Cessna single-engine airplane factory, Austin developed an elaborate role-playing exercise for managers that simulate a “day in the life” of a harried executive. A job candidate spends up to 12 hours in an office with a phone, fax, and in-basket stuffed with files and letters. Throughout the day the prospect works through memos and handles problems.

Shadowing current star performers

Certain organizations arrange for short-listed finalists to shadow star performers this becomes a win-win situation, for a good expectation setting for candidates and two to get an unbiased feedback from the current employees in terms of behavioral competencies.

Vetting Applicants’ Social Media Profiles

A modern day phenomenon to check the attitude of the millennial employees is to explore and analyze their presence on the social media. A look at the social networking sites and personal websites presence of a candidate can speak acumen of social behaviors which would otherwise be difficult to gauge.

While there can be a number of techniques aimed at picking the right talent for the organization, interviewers may benefit from keeping five golden rules in mind:

Identify mind-set mine-fields

It is a good practice to start identifying attitude reflectors such as stickiness with previous organizations, educational gaps, sudden exits, career journey, choice of past employers and projects. While it would be just a starting point, it could help the interviewer set certain hypothesis that need to be tested during the course of the interaction.

Move from the bird’s eye to a worm’s eye

Most often organizations are not very clear about what defines a right attitude. Defining key behavioral competencies that are desirable to the given role becomes a good beginning for the search for a right fit. Once such traits and competencies are identified, narrowing down tools and measures to identify the key competencies in the prospective hire becomes a smart way of hiring for the right attitude.

Move from worm’s eye to a bull’s eye

Evaluating an attitude from a resume requires keen observational skills and deep human insight.  Such characteristics can be exhibited through answers to questions which go beyond the traditional interview methods. Going beyond the cliché “Tell me something about yourself” to a more relevant question keeping the business needs and job requirements in mind would help bring out the critical aspects of the candidate’s persona and provide some food for thought for a right people decision.

Use a right mix of Behavioral, situational and value based questions

The interviewer should always aim at knowing the multiple facets of the candidate by presenting pertinent situational questions, keeping in view the job profile. A question such as “ imagine that a customer is giving you last minutes changes in the requirement and expecting them to be incorporated in the solution to be delivered in next 36 hours. How would you handle the situation” would give a good view to the candidates’ analytical, problem solving, conflict management skills as also the ability to innovate and negotiate in real time. Similarly a question such as “A manager asks you to lie to a customer about viability of one product choice as against the other in order to book greater profit, Would you follow their instructions or not?” cannot be categorized as good or bad but can be considered as a measure of core values.

Listen, Listen and further Listen

Finally the key to successful hiring depends on the interviewer’s ability to listen to the said as well as the unsaid. The words and beyond them, the noise as well as the silence that is witnessed during the interaction.

To conclude in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

Organizational investment in these little things while making talent and people decisions would lead to big differences in the way of doing Business.

Contributed by Prof. Dipika Dabke (Faculty, IBS Mumbai)

The other day, to my surprise, the bus conductor refused to accept my 100 rupee note saying something about a missing year. To my relief, my usual veggie seller promptly accepted it, unaware RBI’s notice of withdrawal of pre 2005 currency. He could at most keep it till March 31, 2014 the date till which it will be acceptable. Holding on to it beyond July 1, 2014 would have him  go marching to his bank branch (assuming he has an account), waiting  in long queues to  exchange it  for a new note, one which was issued after 2005, with better security features, reducing possibility of counterfeit. Little is he aware that if he possesses more than ten pieces of such 500 and 1000 notes, he is expected to possess address and identity proof and submit it to the bank, and thus get his dues. Vegetable wholesellers from whom he buys too would be lucky to find a nearby rural branch adequately staffed and also stocked with new notes. After all, banks have been known to face shortage of staff to deal with huge walk-ins resulting in long queues. Further, the limited number of branches in rural and semi-urban areas will perpetuate the problem.

Similar could be the fate of India’s massive underground network of financial couriers  (Angarias), who are estimated to conduct over Rs. 1,000 crore a day in undocumented cash transactions. It will also hit the illiterate sections and those ignorant of the change. The withdrawal of pre-2005 currency although acceptable for legal tender will create panic among its users. No wonder the aware and literate bus conductor was so mindful! Property dealers, gold sellers and other hoarders of cash would be exchanging their currency through dealers inorder to avoid becoming accountable for huge cash transactions. So, welcome the class the dealers, once again!

The step taken by RBI is in view of the rising problem of fake notes being detected in the system and reducing the possibility of counterfeiting. Funding of terror networks with fake currency and triggering of inflation needs to be definitely taken care of. The move was also in response to 2 lakh fake notes worth 10.14 crore recovered in August 2013. Central banks, the world over, periodically phase out old currency and introduce ones with better security features. At least seven countries, Australia being the first, have switched over to polymer notes which are made from a thin, transparent and flexible film made of polypropylene. The life of such notes is 2.5 times longer than paper banknotes. Bank of England would be issuing such notes from 2016 and RBI seems to be taking baby steps towards it. We only wish that banks are able to handle this pressure and ensure a smooth journey for the common man.

Contributed by Prof.Mani Govil (Faculty, IBS Mumbai)

When we dig deep into the minds of students and the aspiring candidates for master’s education, we found a lot of confusion about career options and how they link it to the growth paths of those careers. Many also ponder about this issue as students from almost all of the disciplines are pursuing a management degree/program.

Ten years back, among those who were pursuing management course, arts and fashion students were taken as shockers. Back then the most popular career paths were medicine & engineering. MBA was an emergent career stream and people were opening towards the professional careers.  Within a decade, it became a preferred program for higher studies and slowly it was seen as a fad.

But there remains so much of confusion about it. And before we get on to the careers where MBA helps an individual in growth & sustenance it is important to learn why & how a management degree brings the difference.

The single reason is that MBA is not a classic degree with lot of lectures and one examination. It is a program which is equally backed with theoretical and practical knowledge. It has forever been positioned as one which prepares a candidate for the corporate world. Helps one practice the challenges, understand the cultural differences and teaches a lot about group dynamics.

An MBA Program certainly helps a student in putting up the Thinking Caps. It broadens the horizons and helps in thinking with a wider perspective. Also, the management programs are designed in such a way that it provides overall understanding of the industry, job, consumer behaviors, finances etc – it touches all the chords of corporate lives and business. And that is how it helps one attain the credentials which are valuable and useful in different areas of business. It also helps them in learning cross-functional management.

Before we explore the careers where MBA works as an accelerator, less at have a glance at the skill-sets which one attains in a management program and which are useful in almost every chore of work & life. To list a few:

• Team Skills
• Personal Grooming
• Business Learning & Career Counseling
• Real time exposure- to businesses & markets
• General Management
• Analytical Ability
• Presentation & Soft-skills

Lately it is been recognized that management education helps in almost all the streams of business across functions – be it finance, marketing, consumers or people. If we talk about the Careers where MBA helps in growth there will be several, so we will talk in relevance to the industry segments & job profiles.

Global Exposure:

A Management Program is developed with a global perspective of how business work worldwide. The pedagogy of an MBA programs offers to polish & improvise the skill-set of an individual. The good b-schools do not limit the exposure opportunities but in fact those are made a part of the program itself through the assignments and internships.  There are many universities & B-schools which offer Exchange Programs as a part of the 2 year program.

Globally an MBA helps in careers like Investment Banking, Travel & Tourism Management, Fashion and Hospitality as well.

Growth Perspective:

MBA Program also helps the working executives in planning a growth path for their existing careers. Many a times, qualifications are set as benchmarks for certain professional positions – be it the private or the government sector. MBA opens the doors for study and growth for those who for some reason couldn’t complete the masters program in life which is very much a requisite for certain promotions & positions.

A Management degree brings lot of hope for such candidates. The Executive MBA Programs are now offered in convenient course structures. There are evening classes, online classes, weekly classes and what not. All this makes studying again lot easier and in turn happy learners.

Majorly this could be seen in Government Sectors, In Education and those who are into lifestyle oriented businesses – like fashion, beauty, art etc – where is talent is already available but a management programs helps with the business cap.

Entrepreneurial Skill-set:

There is a lot of debate about whether an MBA helps in entrepreneurship or not. One school of thought says it is not but most of them believe that MBA has got the right ingredients which help one think wider with a vision. It gives way to analytical thinking and consumer perspective and that in turn helps in development of entrepreneurial skill-set.

The Case Methodology @ IBS bring up the real time business stories, subjects like business strategy coupled with group studies and class discussions all work as the value addition. Apart from the practical knowledge based curriculum, a management program equips the candidates with life & behavioral skill sets which are for a lifetime. Leadership, Negotiations, Communication skills are all the soft-skills which are forever required and help in all the careers.

The Executive Programs offered now a days, help the working professionals is attaining further education and add value to their qualifications and skill-sets. These programs are designed keeping the job hours in mind so that the class schedules are convenient.  Be it the regular MBA or the executive programs – these also help the learners thin in lines of their dreams by giving the practical exposure and how they could be turned into reality.

MBA fosters the very idea of Parallel path and that is why today we see lot of entrepreneurial ventures been coming out of the passion or hobby which one wanted to pursue.

To conclude, here is a smart advice, you will find so many programs, online courses which promise the similar kind of learning experience like a regular MBA Program. Beware of the courses –as there is absolutely no match of a regular management degree from a B-school. The approach, the faculties, the assignments and projects – everything real time is way different from those sessions and test we do online. Also a B-school atmosphere teaches a lot about cross-cultural functioning, networking and real-time learning with live problems and live solutions.

Lastly, an MBA certainly accelerates your career – be it any but before you go for it you must think about the happiness quotient and not just the hefty salary packages and urbane lifestyle. People usually assume this as a ticket to metro’s and abroad but the purpose shall be happiness and work satisfaction which one shall derive from this education.