Perspective
China- A New Destination for IT Managers
by Mr Bijoy Kumar
Although China
has a large number of programmers who are ready to be a part of
the country’s race to be among the top global players in IT
services. But there is something due to which China is not able
to top in that race. That reason is lack of sufficient mid and
senior-level IT-management talent in the country.
Companies that
are coming to China for their operations are facing this serious
problem. Therefore now they start different strategy for hiring
the IT managers. The very popular strategy is to hire those
Chinese who have worked abroad in countries like USA, Australia,
UK etc. and now coming to their home country to settle down and
to help their country in its success path.
Some of the
companies like ‘DarwinSuzsoft’ which is a late comer in China
have adopted the strategy of hiring middle and top level
management from the MNC’s because these people are well trained
and the company didn’t have to waste time to train people for
these positions.
The case may
be different for different companies, but the reality is that
while programming talent is abundant in China there is a lack of
middle and upper level management who are able to deliver large
scale IT projects to international clients.
Lean
Management Skills
Everybody knows that China has been a big player
in manufacturing industry and have a good army of IT managers
who are specialized in the field of
supply chain
and inventory management. But IT-service industry is very new to
China and therefore there is a scarcity of IT managers in this
sector.
Chinese
managers have the skills to support the requirements of
companies that are coming from same business-cultural
environment, because they understand the culture of these
companies. But very few IT managers are trained to deliver in an
international environment. They are lacking in large project
management skills, IPR related issues and cultural and
communication affinity with their clients.
Also there is
a big problem with Chinese that is language problem. English a
globally accepted language is not a main language in China.
Though these people are studying English in their academics but
they are not able to deal with the international clients due to
communication problem.
Scope for
Indian Managers
Due to these
problems with the Chinese professionals there is a big hope for
Indian IT managers to get the job in China and show their
skills.
Also if we
talk about salary related issues and compare the salaries of
Indian and Chinese professional then on an average programmers
in China cost 10-15% less than in India, while managers cost 25%
higher than India. Therefore the issue may be a great attraction
for Indian IT managers.
Strategies
to fulfill the requirement of IT managers
Following are
some strategies that companies are following to deal with the
problem of lack of IT managers:
Hiring
trained IT managers from MNC’s
IT
managers from foreign countries like India etc.
Developing
skills in local professionals
Hiring the
Foreign returned persons
If we see the
above ways of overcoming the stated problem then the most
economical option for the companies having operations in China,
is to hire IT managers from foreign countries where labor is
cheap like India.
Although the
situation is changing and Chinese are also capturing the skills
of a middle level manager. But the rate is slow and till the
situation exists, there is a chance for IT managers from the
countries like India where there is a huge force of IT managers,
to develop their career in China.
Disclaimer : The views
expressed in the articles are author’s own views B’Cognizance or
IIITA is not liable for any objections arising out of the same.
The matter here is solely for academic use only.
Programmer
Analyst
Cognizant Technology Solutions, Kolkata
e-mail-bejoy.kumar@gmail.com