PGDM in Energy Management: An intervention to develop leaders at energy sector

The present situation in the energy industry is complex due to disruptions, and innovation caused by many factors including regulatory challenges, geopolitical pressures, and environmental issues.  Given such a background, the industry demands attention to manage capacity and resources. In order to tackle the present condition, HR challenges (like succession planning, leadership development, and talent management) in the energy industry should be dealt in priority. For this, understanding the gap in competency of the existing workforce is crucial.

It is evident that the workforce in the energy sector is majorly dominated by people with an engineering background. The major workforce in these organisations is comprised of the people who entered the organisation as graduate engineer trainees and have worked their way up from the shop floor/office. The executives with strong technical skills are very pertinent for the energy sector; accordingly, technical skill is a major criterion to hire graduate trainees. With progression over time, the executives move to the middle management level as head/supervisor of the team and project. Being the supervisor/head of the team and projects, the executives have to perform a general management role. There is a possibility that the engineers who have been hired majorly on the basis of their technical expertise would not be well proficient in a management function. Thus, the middle management level people might not be equipped with the necessary management knowledge and skills to confront the demand of the context. Such paucity of talent at the intersection of technical skills and management/leadership functions could be a major hitch for companies as these people are critical for succession planning and future leadership position. On the other hand, it can be an opportunity for those companies who excel at managing talent at the middle level.

Such paucity of talent at the intersection of technical skills and management/leadership functions could be a major hitch for companies as these people are critical for succession planning and future leadership position. On the other hand, it can be an opportunity for those companies who excel at managing talent at the middle level.

Despite the significance of the technical skills for the managerial and leadership role at energy organisations, the importance of management skills at these positions cannot be ignored. Moving forward in the career, proficiency in technical skills is not only sufficient but the technical workforce should also have a broader understanding of the context to manage and control the situations as a manager and leader. A manager and leader should well comprehend all the organisational functions including operations, finance, marketing, and human resource. The knowledge, skill, and ability of middle management people need to be strengthened to enable them for management functions. In a nutshell, the middle and high-level position at organisation demands mastery in many skills like being visionary, the wise use of resources, interpersonal relationships, effective communication, effective delegation and execution of tasks.

A manager and leader should well comprehend all the organisational functions including operations, finance, marketing, and human resource. The knowledge, skill, and ability of middle management people need to be strengthened to enable them for management functions.

The practitioners and policymakers in the energy sector need to prepare the blueprint for the effective management of the technical workforce as managers and leaders. The energy management program of more than one year could be a suitable intervention in this regard. Understanding the uniqueness of the energy sector, it is argued that a generic management training or development programme may not bring the desired result. Hence, it is emphasised that the programme should be customised and designed specifically for the energy sector as per the demand of the industry and target participants. NTPC School of Business (NSB) has the distinction of being the pioneer in energy management education and is positively impacting the energy sector through knowledge creation and dissemination.

The NSB was established in 2014. NTPC Limited (a Maharatna company of Government of India, and India’s largest energy conglomerate) promotes the NTPC Education and Research Society (NEARS). The NTPC School of Business (NSB) is under the aegis of the NEARS. It is accordingly committed to the advancement of management education, research, training and consultancy for the energy sector. NSB runs two AICTE - approved programmes, namely, Fifteen-months Post Graduate Diploma in Management–Executive (PGDM-E) and Two-year Post Graduate Diploma in Energy Management (PGDM-EM). The IIMA and the NSB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2018 to foster future energy managers in various energy fields. NSB since then is guided by IIMA on the design of courses and pedagogy for highly interactive approaches towards learning.

Understanding the uniqueness of the energy sector, it is argued that a generic management training or development programme may not bring the desired result. Hence, it is emphasised that the programme should be customised and designed specifically for the energy sector as per the demand of the industry and target participants.

The programme curriculum (including content, material and cases) is unique and designed especially in consultation with important stakeholders including academicians, and practitioners and policy makers from the energy sector. Executive management programs follow case-based teaching pedagogy (including the cases from the energy sector also) to make people understand the link between the concept and practice. Teaching fundamentals through case based approach leads to lasting learning as it allows understanding the right approach to reach the solution and facilitate dealing of the real-time situation. The approach also helps the participants to assess their own competency gaps, see how they are functioning and scope for improvements and finally lead them to understand how to excel at manager and leadership roles.

About the author:

Dr Alka Rai is an Assistant Professor of Human Resource and Organisational Behaviour course at NTPC School of Business. She is also the admissions chairperson.

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha