Management Training India,Financial Management Training Center,Project Management Training

Certainly, then, familiarising the R&D personnel with basic concepts, practices and principles of business management will be useful. The R&D personnel need to understand management basics like project management, organisational behaviour, and marketing. It is important then that they are familiar with these practices and apply them in practice. Similarly, there are aspects of HRD, finance, systems, etc, which R&D personnel need to have an understanding of. A customised management education and training package could fulfil this need of the hour.

The management should therefore organise short duration programmes that will help the R&D personnel to understand, practice and speak the lingo of business. The R&D personnel need to fine-tune their management skills in order to make the knowledge created by them saleable. This calls for reorientation in their attitude and approach. It should be clear that coupling the discipline of business management with R&D need not necessarily curb creativity of the personnel. As a matter of fact, it is now being widely recognised in the industry that scientific creativity in isolation, no matter how outstanding and original, unless managed in a framework of business discipline, can lead to waste and chaos. It is imperative, therefore, that R&D personnel be re-oriented to meet the demands of the market, which has become highly competitive.
Since the innovation system differs across industries and across companies within industries, the training should be customised to the need of the particular R&D unit. It should be a blend of theory and practice, including live case study discussions. The discussion about the participants’ experience in handling the projects, backed with management theories, would be the right way to learn. Inter-active sessions with participants would enhance the understanding of the process of R&D management in a more focused manner.
R&D project management is different from management of other kind of projects as the uncertainties and technological obsolescence is higher here. The effectiveness parameters and the best practices for R&D project management are also different. The best practices of R&D management should be coupled with the project management best practices to arrive at the desired course for R&D management.
It is sad that managements as well as training providers are not well aware of the need of management basics for R&D personnel. No wonder, it is rare to find a training provider exclusive for R&D management. Since the field is new, we do not have any professionally recognised body for R&D project management, providing basic management training for R&D personnel. Overseas consultants cannot be useful for Indian R&D as the nature of R&D differs for developing countries like India. Academic research in this area can be the basic source in providing the background for the training. The training programme should be based on an in-depth research on management of R&D in Indian industries.
It can be ascertained that the training package should define, describe and illustrate the process of R&D management, including an analysis of areas like scope, time, strategy, resource allocation decisions, quality principles, planning and selection of R&D projects, and evaluation of projects, which is generally considered as a dilemma. Risk management should form the core of the training, since R&D is considered as a risky endeavour revolving around uncertainties. New product development, technology transfer issues, strategic alliances, and intellectual property issues, also form an important area with which the R&D personnel need to be familiarised. Developing an interface between marketing and R&D and effective commercialisation of technology is critical for success. Hence, training programmes should focus on this issue as well. The module should also emphasise on the ‘softer’ side of R&D management like HR issues, communication, organisational culture, organisational climate and structure.
By familiarising R&D personnel with these management basics that are R&D specific, Indian technology research can take a leap in the global market. The success and failure of innovation depends a lot on strategic management and organisational environment. To remain competitive, it is the need of the hour that the management should wake up to this call and organise short-term management courses for its R&D personnel. Leaving them in isolation to be creative is not going to help anybody. They need to compete in the global world with the knowledge created in laboratories. Unless the same knowledge is brought and sold in the market it is just an intellectual waste.