Competency Skills for the Technocrats: The Leadership Issue in S&T Institutions
| Published date | 01 July 2012 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120120313 |
| Author | V.C. Goyal |
| Date | 01 July 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
C01\1PETENCY SKILLS
FOR
THE
TECHNOCRATS:
THE
LEADERSHIP ISSUE IN
S&T
INSTITUTIONS
V.C. GOYAL
The
new emphasis on individual-level competencies as the
foundation
for
an organisation's core competence has
prompted
various organisations towards competency-
focused initiatives. Against such a scenario the biggest
challenge before country's science and technology (S&T)
organisations seems to be the leadership crisis. There is
no mechanism to judge the true competency level
of
the
individuals who are selected to head these organisations.
In
absence
of
a
policy
framework
to nurture the
institutional leadership, the organisations have not been
able
to
cultivate and promote these attributes. This article
proposes a competency skill set
for
the technocrats that
can be used at the time
of
selection
of
an
individual for the
top job, particularly in an S&T organisation.
THE PRESENT expenditure on research and development in India is
just
one per cent
of
GDP, which the
l2
1
h
Five-Year Plan proposes to
increase to two per cent. In doing so, are we only concerned with
increasing the R&D expenditure
or
we also plan to concomitantly build
our scientific temper? This is the time to seriously introspect why the
country's large scientific manpower is not able to bring about a new set
of
revolutions, like the Green Revolution and White Revolution
of
the
60s
and
70s?
This
despite
the
fact
that
we
have
much
more
infrastructural capacity as well as scientific manpower as compared to
the olden times. Probably there are some systemic issues which need
to be diagnosed and urgently addressed to catch up with the rest
of
the
developing world.
The Science and Technology (S&T) institutions in India are facing
certain challenges when the
citizens'
expectations are high
on
the
governance and delivery systems. Competitive behaviour in the domestic
and international markets, and opening up
of
the economy demand that
these institutions should also demonstrate their competitiveness
vis-a-vis
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