A Final Project Report on

“Feedback Regarding Learning Management

System “
Submitted In Partial Fulfillment for
Final year (July 2009 – 2011 Batch)
Of
Master of Business Administration

Submitted To
Directorate of Distance Education
Vinayka Missions University, Salem

Faculty Guide:
Submitted by:

Mahak Dhoot
(Name of Faculty Guide)
(Name of the Student)

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 Professor VMU
Registration Number
PROTON business School– Indore Campus
204033090566

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 Acknowledgement

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the

management of my college, PROTON business school, for
entrusting me to be a part of such a reputed organization
for my Summer Internship Program.

I am grateful to our Chief Mentor Mr. Sandeep

Manudhane, Placements Director Mr. Varun Gupta,
Dean Mr. Vinay Goyal for their excellent co-ordination
with the industry for the Summer Internship Program and
thus giving me an opportunity to enhance my
management and technical skills in the sense of
organizational activity. I would also like to thank my
faculty mentors, who guided and supported me at every
step of the project.

The summer project at Essar Projects India Ltd.

provided me with a learning experience as well as a
glimpse into the daily management functions of an
organization. During the tenure of this project, I was
fortunate to have interacted wt people, who encouraged
and guided me.

I am heartily thankful to my mentor Mr. V.L.Rajguru

(General Manager) and Mr. Habindar Singh Sani
(Deputy General Manager HR ) whose
encouragement, guidance and support fro the initial to

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the final level enable me to develop an understanding of
the subject.

I offer my regards to all, especially Mr. Gagandeep

Singh, Ms. Zeenat Khan, Mr. Kapil Patel, Mr. H.K
Ravi, Mr. Bikas Nath who have supported me in every
respect during the completion of the project.

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 Content

1. Introduction to Company

2. HR function at Essar

3. Gurukul – Learning and Development

4. Learning Management System

5. Research Design

6. Sampling

7. Measurement Scale

8. Analysis and Interpretation

9. Conclusion

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10. Suggestions and Recommendations

11. Bibliography

12. Questionnaire

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 Essar Group – Creating Enduring Value

The Essar group is a multinational conglomerate and a

leading player in the sectors of Steel, Oil & Gas, Power,
Communication, Shipping and logistics, Construction and
Minerals. The name of the company is derived from the
combination of the names of the two brothers, Shashi and
Ravi Ruia, the first alphabet i.e. ‘S’ as ‘ESS’ and ‘R’ as
‘AR’ which makes ‘ESSAR’. With operations in more than
20 countries across five continents, the group employs
60,000 people with revenues about USD 15 billion.
Essar began as a construction company in 1969 and
diversified into manufacturing, services and retail. Over
the last decade, it has grown through strategic global
acquisitions and partnerships, or through Greenfield and
Brownfield development projects, capturing new markets
and discovering new raw material sources.
Today, the group continues to expand its global footprint,
focusing on markets in Asia, Africa, Europe, America and
Australia. Essar invests significantly in the latest
technology to drive forward and backward integration in
its business, and on leveraging synergies between these
businesses. It also focuses on in-house research and
innovation to be a low-cost manufacturer with high
quality products and innovative customer offerings.
The Essar group is widely regarded as a responsible and
conscientious global employer. It has experience in
managing businesses in different geographies with a

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culturally diverse workforce. This is why its people
practices are sensitive to cross-cultural nuances. The
Group’s people strategy is focused on promoting a
learning culture that continually enhances the
professional skills of its employees.
Essar Steel a global producer of steel with a footprint
covering India, Canada, USA, Middle East and Asia. It is a
versatile manufacturer, capable of producing highly
customized products and is well known for its quality, it
compete against the top international steel producers.

• One of the few manufacturers globally who can make

API steel with low sulphur.

• It is the largest exporter of flat products, selling almost

one-third of our production to highly demanding US and
European markets.
• It has a capacity of 9 million tonnes per
annum(MTPA).With its aggressive expansion plans in
India as well as Asia and the Americas, its capacity will
go up to 20 to 25 MTPA

• A number of major client companies have approved our

steel for their use, including Caterpillar, Hyundai,
Swaraj Mazda, the Konkan Railway and Maruti Suzuki.
Essar Oil Limited (EOL) is an integrated oil & gas
company spanning the entire value chain – from deep
within the earth all the way up to the end consumer. We
have Exploration and production rights in some valuable
oil and gas blocks in India and overseas. In 1993 it was

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one of the first private companies to bid for exploration
blocks and won Ratna and R-series oilfield for
development and production with ONGC and other
international companies in partnership. It also won oil
blocks in Australia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Indonesia,
Mehsana etc. In Mehsana, Gujarat production has already
started.

• The company owns oil blocks in Cachar, Assam, CBM

blocks in Raniganj, West Bengal and are using
innovative technology to produce methane gas from
the block. EOL is one of the few private companies
permitted to market petroleum products in India and is
building modern, large countrywide distribution of retail
outlets of 1300 filling stations.
Essar Power has consistently set new standards of
excellence in Indian power sector. It is one of the India’s
largest independent power producers and India’s first
multi-fuel power plant, with the lowest manpower to
megawatt ratio and lowest capital costs per megawatt in
India. It has currently 5 plants with a combined capacity
of 1200 MW and has commissioned 32MW coal based
captive project at Vishakhapatnam and new plant at
Madhya Pradesh, is also setting up a 120MW refinery
residue based power plant at Vadinar. It is also setting up
renewable energy power projects as well. These include
wind energy plants with license from Repower Systems
AG in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The company is exploring
possibility of setting up a coal based plant at Orissa and

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Jharkhand and is executing projects to enhance its
generating capacity to 6000MW.
Essar Communication operates in four business
segments: Telecom services, Telecom Retail, Telecom
infrastructure and Aegis services.

• Vodafone-Essar is a joint venture of Essar

Communication Holdings Ltd. And the UK based
Vodafone Group. It is one of the India’s largest
cellular service companies; with subscriber base over
60 million.

• Essar operates integrated IT enabled services

through Aegis brand name, with a presence in
interaction services, back office services and value
added services. Aegis has a global delivery model
with 31centers across Philippines, Costa Rica, USA
and India. It employees over 30,000 employees who
have expertise in the Telecom, Insurance, Banking
and Healthcare domains.

• Essar has launched India’s first national chain of

multi-brand and multi-service outlets in the telecom
retail space. Mobile Store currently runs over 1300
outlets and over 2500 are expected to come across
in 650 cities.

• Essar Telecom Infrastructure is one of the largest

independent telecom service provisioning companies
in the country. It builds telecom tower infrastructure
and shares it with several telecom operators in India.

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 It has already setup more than 3500 towers in India,
with plans to build 20,000 towers.
Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics Ltd (ESPLL) is a
leading integrated logistics provider for steel mills, oil
refineries and thermal power generation companies
across the world. The logistics business provides end-
to-end logistics services – from ships to ports, intra-
plant logistics and dispatch of finished products. It also
operate a fleet of 4,200 trucks (38 of which they own)
to provide inland transportation of steel and petroleum
products. Essar’s fleet accounts for 14% of India’s
shipping fleet they own is India’s largest VLCC (Very
Large Crude Container). It offers bulk transport, supply
chain management and storage and distribution and
derives about three quarters of its revenues from
international business. With an experience of more
than 220 ship years, it owns a diverse fleet of 25
vessels, and a further 12 new building vessels are on
order at an investment of over USD 0.6 billion.

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Vision
“To be a global Engineering, Procurement and
construction contracting company”
Mission
To achieve excellence in field of engineering,
procurement and construction through world class
practices and standards in quality, safety and project
management.
Overview
Essar Projects India Limited has rich and varied record of
accomplishments as a premier construction company.
From pipelines to port, from industrial projects to
intelligent buildings, canals, townships, highways, bridges
etc. with excellence and perfection as its goals, Essar has
successfully executed projects worth over Rs. 20 billion
and is fully equippec to support the infrastructure boom,
both in India and overseas.
Key value drivers

• A leading EPC contractor with 40 years of experience

• Pipeline SBU certified at ISO 9001:2000

• Wide range of capabilities including industrial, civil

and infrastructure construction

• Special skills in marine construction

• Strategic links with over 20 companies including
large multinationals
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• Skilled and experienced team

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 Introduction to Human Resource
By transformation of economic environment, the
information explosion, advances in technology and the
intensely competitive global and domestic markets have
created enormous pressure on organizations to change or
perish. Against this challenging scenario, by choice or
default a new era of human resource management
practices and philosophy is emerging and assuming
significance in modern organizations.
Human Resource Management is a process of bringing
people and organizations together so that the goals of
each are met. It tries to secure the best from people by
winning their wholehearted cooperation.
Why HRM matters now?
Regardless of their industry, size or location, companies
today face five critical business challenges. Collectively,
these challenges require organizations to build new
capabilities. Who is currently responsible for developing
those capabilities? Everyone and no one. This vacuum is
HR’s opportunity to play a leadership role in enabling
organizations to meet the following competitive
challenges.

• Globalization

• Profitability through Growth

• Technology

• Intellectual capital
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• Change, Change and More Change

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Human Resource at Essar
The entire HR function at Essar broadly focuses on four
major categories which are as follows:
1. Talent Acquisition

It comprises of recruitment and selection of the talent.

The organization has centralized its recruitment
function residing at Mumbai which is the corporate
office. Recruitment is done through 2 types of sourcing:

Internal: Horizon Portal is used where employees who

have completed 2 years of service at Essar can apply
for a particular post.
External: the organization has tie ups with placement
agencies, does campus recruitments, post
advertisements etc.

This arm is essentially related to the recruitment and

acquisition of the talent globally. The organization has
centralized recruitment team residing at Mumbai. The
portal Horizon comprises of

• Manpower Planning

• Resourcing

• Selection Process

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• Final Offer Process

2. Talent Alignment

HR helps the new incumbent to align with the goals of

the organization. There is a portal Third eye which talks
about policies, procedures, rules and regulations to be
followed which helps the new employee to understand
the organizational culture. It is a framework for
integrating information, people and processes across
organizational boundaries.

3. Talent Engagement

The company believes in good work life balance. The

HR department takes new initiatives to indulge
employees and their families in different engagement
activities throughout the year.

4. Learning and Development (Talent Management)

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 Organization focuses on the career development of the
employees through Individual Learning Programs as the
organization is committed to individual’s growth.
Gurukul is a concept that encompasses Performance
Management System, setting up Individual Learning
Programs, Skill development workshops etc. The
company has specifically constructed learning center
and designed programs for employees on chosen areas
and topics.

Employee Levels
M 11 Engineer / Officer

M 10 Assistant Manager

M9 Deputy Manager

M8 Manager

M7 Sr. Manager

M6 Deputy General Manager

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M5 Joint General Manager

M4 General Manager

M3 Vice President

M2 Sr. Vice President

M1 Director

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Gurukul – Learning and Development
Essar believes in continuous growth and development of
its employees which provides regular training sessions. It
is a concept that encompasses the area of performance
management system setting up individual learning
programs developing the identified capabilities, skill
development workshop and much more.
The company specifically constructed learning center and
designs programs for professionals on chosen areas and
topics. Guest lecture are also constructed on technical
and non-technical topic.
One of the core areas of learning management system is
the online portal of the company’s intranet known as
Essarnet. Learning and development includes the
following:

 Performance Management System (PMS)

PMS has its roots in Performance Appraisal System
which was started in 20th century. It is the system to
establish a high performance culture in which
individuals and teams take responsibility for the
continuous improvement of business processes as
well as the skills and contributions.

 Executive Development Review (EDR)

EDR establishes a process that identifies employees,
develops their skills and abilities and prepares them for

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advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return
on the organization’s training investment.It involves

• Essar Capabilities Frame work

• Mid year Review of the employee performance

• Individual Development Discussion

EDR involves understanding the organizations long-
term goals and objectives, identifying the
workforce’s developmental needs and determining
workforce trends and predictions to better manage
careers and performance.

 Learning Management System

The LMS promotes “Anywhere Anytime Learning “. It
enables you to plan and execute your varied learning
needs in an interactive and engaging environment, and
more importantly, at your pace and convenience.

 Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching is a guided relationship in which one person
assists in the development of another person’s
competencies. While managers and supervisors
typically coach their staff, peers and subordinates can
also be coaches
Mentoring is guidance, encouragement and practical
assistance given by an experienced person to another
person in development of their career.

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 Essar has institutionalized this learning process through
a Coaching & Mentoring initiative, called ‘Find the Guru
Within’ to help employees gain from the knowledge
and experience within the organization.
A culmination of workshops is the Coaches and Mentors
Summits wherein all coaches and mentors in the
system get together and felicitate the spirit of
nurturing in the group. This way, the group leaves a
lasting legacy of a strong learning organization in the
hearts and minds of all internal and external stake
holders.

 Cadre building Program

In order to build strong talent and leadership pipeline,
Essar has invested in a comprehensive Cadre Building
Programmes that focus on the training and all round
development of the young professionals. The
effectiveness of these programmes is further
augmented through the strong communities of Coaches
and Mentors. Essar’s nurturing and rewarding culture,
foster young minds for global careers.
 Essar Corporate University
Essar Corporate University is a significant milestone in
our journey to build an overarching Learning
Organization at Essar. The ECU is a virtual Learning
Organization built over a series of education
enrichment initiatives, to focus on Employee Career
advancement. This strategic people development

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initiative will provide opportunities for professional
development and continuous learning and is poised to
bring a paradigm shift in the way we developed and
engage talent at Essar.

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Importance of Learning and Development

• Optimum Utilization of Human Resources – Training

and Development helps in optimizing the utilization
of human resource that further helps the employee
to achieve the organizational goals as well as their
individual goals.

• Development of Human Resources – Training and

Development helps to provide an opportunity and
broad structure for the development of human
resources’ technical and behavioral skills in an
organization. It also helps the employees in attaining
personal growth.

• Development of skills of employees – Training and

Development helps in increasing the job knowledge
and skills of employees at each level. It helps to
expand the horizons of human intellect and an
overall personality of the employees.
• Productivity – Training and Development helps in
increasing the productivity of the employees that
helps the organization further to achieve its long-
term goal.

• Team spirit – Training and Development helps in

inculcating the sense of team work, team spirit, and
inter-team collaborations. It helps in inculcating the
zeal to learn within the employees.

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• Organization Culture – Training and Development
helps to develop and improve the organizational
health culture and effectiveness. It helps in creating
the learning culture within the organization.

• Organization Climate – Training and Development

helps building the positive perception and feeling
about the organization. The employees get these
feelings from leaders, subordinates, and peers.

• Quality – Training and Development helps in

improving upon the quality of work and work-life.

• Healthy work environment – Training and

Development helps in creating the healthy working
environment. It helps to build good employee,
relationship so that individual goals aligns with
organizational goal.

• Health and Safety – Training and Development helps

in improving the health and safety of the
organization thus preventing obsolescence.

• Morale – Training and Development helps in

improving the morale of the work force.

• Image – Training and Development helps in creating

a better corporate image.

• Profitability – Training and Development leads to

improved profitability and more positive attitudes
towards profit orientation.

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• Increased Cost Savings – You can save on travel,
hotel, and tuition costs. Having an online
training/learning centre enables your staff to learn at
their own pace.
• Low cost of Ownership - LMS reduces training costs
of staff by lowering the administrative costs as well
as the teaching costs.
• Effective and Streamlined Learning and Training
Management – Electronic management of user
registration, course creation and deployment, record
keeping, reporting and compliance enable you to
control your training outcomes.
• No limitation due to geographic barriers or time
constraints.
• On-Demand Learning – Knowledge is available on-
tap. Log in anytime, anywhere to take courses,
assessments and even research issues.
• Increased Productivity – Your success depends on the
skills and talents of your team. With LMS, your team
can reduce learning times significantly and increase
knowledge retention by allowing reference usage.
This translates directly to increased return on your
investment.
• Rapid-fire Course Content Updates – Your courses
and training materials can easily be updated in real-
time. This means your team will always have fresh,
up to date training and learning materials available
24/7.
• On-Demand Scalability – Add more users and courses
with the click of a mouse. Create one course and use

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 multiple times. Imagine the logistics of adding more
classrooms or printing more training materials
anytime you add more employees. Use LMS to easily
handle more users/courses, interactive features.
• Branded e-Learning/Training System – Your own
unique, secure learning and training portal.

Learning Management System

Learning in essence is a personal phenomenon. One of

the major areas of focus in Gurukul is the online Learning
Management System available at EssarNet. The LMS
promotes “Anywhere Anytime Learning “. It enables you
to plan and execute your varied learning needs in an
interactive and engaging environment, and more
importantly, at your pace and convenience.
Gurukul also houses a rich assortment of eLearning
initiatives that lend a new meaning to corporate training.
These eLearning courses are:

• Personalizes to individual needs and customized to

organizational objectives

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 • A blend of learning methods- virtual classroom,
simulation, collaboration, community, extended
classroom etc.

• End-to-end solutions – from assessment to testing to

certification

• Result oriented learning packages enabling effective

monitoring and tracking of the user’s learning
voyage.
The main programs followed in the organization are as
follows:

• Business Leadership Programs

Essar’s BLP programme is a 9 month fast track
learning programme that focuses on grooming of our
business leaders for tomorrow. BLP grooms young
management graduates through coaching, mentoring
and making learning opportunities available to them
at an early stage. The BLP participants are a Group
Resource with specialization in a range of functions
spanning Marketing, Finance, Human Resources,
Supply Chain and Operations.

• Entrepreneurship Development Program

EDP is an initiative that focuses on the grooming of
young minds by well established business and
functional heads. Under the EDP, a young manager is
given an opportunity to work as an understudy. It is a
wonderful opportunity for trainees to gain invaluable

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 insight into business strategy and management from
the top. This program is offered to all BLP
participants.

• Skill Builder Program for GET

The Skill Builder Programme is designed for Graduate
Engineer Trainees (GETs) recruited from various
campuses. Essar Academy established in the year
2006, runs well structured technical and behavioral
programmes, offering stimulating learning
opportunities to GETs. The objective of this
programme is to build a strong technical talent
pipeline.
Skill builder Programme spans over 6 months. During
these 6 months classroom sessions at Essar
Academy in Hazira will be held and then head for on
the job training across various businesses.

• Essar Academy for DETs

Essar Academy leads the 2 year full time residential
programme at our Essar Learning Center. The
programme is designed for DET to enhance their
technical capabilities. The DETs are certified as Essar
Engineers and absorbed on successful completion of
the programme.
This is a self learning module with which the employees
can undertake various training sessions at their own
pace. It is a structured program wherein the user can
choose the program of his choice with approval of his

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supervisor and can add that to his Individual Learning
Plan. It contains :

1. Individual Learning Plan

This is the learning program devised for a year by the

joint consultation of the individual and the supervisor. It
gives the details of the subjects on which training is to
be taken and also the target date and methodology
adopted for training. It has a format like

Sr. Subjec Target Methodolo Status

No t Date gy
1. …… ……. ……. Complete/Incomp
lete

2. Learning History

This module consists of the detailed plans of the

learning targets. It specifies in the above mentioned
format about the types of training plans. It categorizes
the training needs into

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• On the job - This is mostly taken care of by the
supervisor after identifying his needs and training him
during the course of job

• Off the job - This will specify the training title and the
provider of the training

• Recommended Reading - The books, articles,

journals that the employee should read along with
subject, title and the author are mentioned.

• Action learning Project - This plan specifies the

project description of the specific project assigned to
him as well as the theme of learning. The employee
learns during the course of handling the project.
3. Learning Calendar

This is a program list that shows the date, time and the
venue of various training program to be held during the
year. This includes topics like negotiation skills, project
management, time management, presentation skills,
problem solving techniques and many more. Every
program has different duration ranging from few hours
to 2-3 days. They have about 80 programs for such
training this year, distributed in different months.

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4. Course Catalogue

Under this catalogue, one can add public resources to

the training plan, which will be accessible at the
individual learning plan. For the private resources, one
has to take the permission of the administrator. Mot of
the resources are public like Advanced Ms Office,
Managing conflict in organization, Six Sigma, Giving
Effective Feedback, Stress management etc.

5. Digicity

This is a digital library which has got books, article etc

divided into three categories: public, private and
protected. They contain different articles, e-books,
references on general management, health and safety,
steel, telecom etc. uploaded by the employees across
the group.

6. Digital Forum

This is an open forum where employees can create

groups to interact with each other. Thy can perform
actions like creating a forum, editing contents of a
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 forum, viewing the replies in a forum, deleting a forum,
searching for a specific forum, etc.

7. Virtual Class

This is an interactive virtual class. It serves as a means

of communication between the coaches and
employees. They can ask questions and the mentors
can reply. The schedule time, description, mentor
names and that for interactions are given.

Analyzing Strengths
Learning Management Systems possess a number of
capabilities and resources which can be used as a basis
of competitive advantage. These capabilities are
translated into ‘strengths’ which help provide a strong
foothold for the system. Some of the strengths are listed
below:

 The LMS has been around for quite some time now and
is well accepted

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 Provides a central and manageable system for both
online and offline training

 Capable of integrating with the workflow

 Capable of integrating with other existing HRMS/IS

 Equipped with exhaustive MIS reporting

 Works excellent for course management, delivery and

tracking of formal learning

 Some LMS systems are capable of managing more than

only eLearning

Analyzing Weakness
Although the Learning Management System possesses
some solid positive aspects, it also lacks few capabilities
and resources which add to the drawbacks in the system.

 Most LMS systems not ready for Web 2.0 experience

and still offer outdated way of course access

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 Still focused on formal learning to be pushed to
learners. Course-centric work flows and approach is
inherent

 Apart from interoperability standards no real

standards govern LMS development

 Varied and fragmented suppliers pool with differing

technical and functional capabilities

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37
How to choose Learning Management System

The LMS Selection Process

Consider the following seven-step process. It may not

work for every situation, but consider it as a guideline.

1. Determine the Learning Strategy

As a learning organization, there should already be a

clear learning strategy in place. If not, now is the time to
develop one. In developing a strategy, consider the target
audience—their learning preferences, their locations, the
resources that are available to them to attend learning
programs, etc. Corporate goals and objectives should also
be defined and the strategy aligned to them. Also take
into account budget constraints, potential realized
benefits and return on investment.

This is not a trivial task, and it can be a whole separate

initiative in itself, so bear in mind the time invested in
this step. A learning strategy should reflect how learning
programs are delivered to the people who need them to
accomplish business goals.

2. Document Requirements

Specific requirements should be defined in each of the

areas mentioned previously. One of the key factors in
finding the right LMS for an organization is matching an
LMS to requirements, not the other way around.

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It is also important to prioritize requirements in a range
from core (high) to low. High-priority or core
requirements are absolutely necessary for the LMS to
meet within the initial implementation or launch of the
system. Any core requirement that cannot be met should
dismiss the LMS from consideration. Medium-priority
requirements are essential to be met in the initial or
subsequent phases of implementation. This means that
the LMS may not be able to meet the requirement for the
initial phase, but a new scheduled release appears to
meet the requirement or there is a commitment from the
LMS vendor to meet the requirement in the near future.
Finally, low-priority requirements are “nice to have” and
can be delayed indefinitely, but also run the risk of being
promoted to medium priority, so these priorities still have
a bearing on how willing or open an LMS vendor is to
considering them.

Another consideration is where gaps in the requirements

for a particular LMS can be filled with customization or
extension of the LMS and how well the LMS adapts to
such customizations or extensions. Customization refers
to changeable parameters within the confines of the out-
of-box design of the LMS, while extensions refer to the
ability to integrate or interface additional functionality not
originally included in the LMS design. Some organizations
struggle with the “build or buy” question when it comes
to LMSs, so it is important to note the options that may
be open to organizations willing to apply additional
resources to meet specific needs.

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Also, consider hosted versus installed systems. Hosted
systems are maintained by the LMS provider, which acts
as an application service provider (ASP). The LMS
provider typically grants access to users of the LMS and
provides support for the system should problems arise.
Modifications or customizations beyond what the
application supports in configuration screens may need to
be done by the ASP and can be restrictive. Installed
solutions, on the other hand, are systems that are
installed within a company’s network. The support of the
hardware and applications would most likely fall on the IT
organization, but there would be more control over
customizations and extensions. Compatibility to
standards such as SCORM (Shareable Content Object
Reference Model) and AICC (Aviation Industry CBT
Committee) should also be considered.

3. Research LMS Companies

In order to make the most appropriate decision, it will be

necessary to research profiles of each potential LMS
and/or LCMS vendor. Information is usually available on
their Web sites. Additionally, research and comparison
reports may also be available from research firms.

The focus should be on key areas surrounding the core or

highest-priority requirements. LMS companies will usually
work with a client to meet lower-priority requirements
through partnerships, customization or future releases.
From these reports, a manageable list of companies that
requests for proposals can be sent to should emerge.

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4. Prepare the Request for Proposal (RFP)

The RFP should be prepared based upon the

requirements. In the RFP, it is not necessary to indicate
priorities of requirements, nor list them in any specific
order, so that each requirement is responded to equally.
Each requirement should be as specific as possible so
that the LMS vendor can respond directly to the
requirement rather than provide a general response.

Scenarios should also be included in the RFP. Scenarios

describe very specific situations that the LMS/LCMS needs
to accommodate. This will give a clear indication as to
how the LMS vendor can meet specific situations.

A proposed project plan for implementation based on the

requirements should also be requested. The project plan
must include timelines relative between the start and the
end of the project. This will provide an estimate as to how
long the vendor perceives implementation will take,
ownership for each task and the details of the tasks
themselves. If the LMS vendor has had enough
experience in implementation, it should already have a
template of a project plan that could easily be applied in
a proposal.

Finally, provide a short response time for the RFP. This

will give an indication as to how hard a company will work
for the business and can be a strong indicator as to how
they will perform in a business relationship. It should not

41
be the sole indicator, however; there are other
opportunities to establish this type of estimate.

5. Review the Proposals

The review team should have sufficient time to review the

proposals and establish a rating system that all can agree
upon. Each rating should also include comments for both
positive and negative impressions. In this manner,
quantitative measures of the ratings are not only
considered, but also subjective impressions of each
criterion.

Once again the focus will need to be on the core or

highest-priority requirements. These are usually the
requirements that must be present in order to consider
the system. If even one of the core requirements cannot
be immediately met by the LMS, that LMS should be
eliminated from the list. For this reason, only core
requirements that truly represent imperative functionality
should be incorporated.

The result of the review should lead to a short list of

vendors.

6. Schedule Meetings and Demos

After the proposal review is complete, meetings and

demos should be scheduled so that the vendors can
answer specific questions and demonstrate their claims
on the proposal. They should also be required to
demonstrate the scenarios provided. This is crucial in

42
determining how compatible or flexible their environment
is. It is also important to make clear what part of the
functionality is included out-of-box with minor
configuration changes and what part requires
customization beyond the quoted price.

If any of the review team needs to attend virtually, it

would be good opportunity to utilize a vendor’s distance-
learning solution. This will provide the capability to
experience part of the environment as the learning
audience would.

Be sure to question any part of the functionality or

implementation that is not clearly understood. It is
important that the account representative is able to
explain functionality clearly and without ambiguity.
Additionally, the flexibility of the project plan should be
explored. An organization should not be required to
adhere to processes that conflict with internal processes.

7. Make the Selection

Finally, a selection can be made after carefully reviewing

and internally discussing the impressions made by each
vendor during each meeting. This is a serious and long-
term investment, so it is important to have complete
cooperation among the members of review team. It is
also important to build in contingency plans in case
certain features that are expected in the initial
implementation are not done in time, or other
unexpected delays or problems arise.

43
This is just a high-level view of an approach to thoroughly
examining LMS/LCMS vendors and is flexible to shorten
the cycle, although at the cost of quality. Consider that
LMS solutions can be a huge investment and if
implemented too quickly, can lead to enormous costs
later in additional effort to meet requirements.

Potential results from employing the approaches

discussed in this article are presented for demonstrative
purposes only. Actual results may vary from application
to application and are not guaranteed.

Objective of the Research

Find the effectiveness of Learning Management System

and the reasons for employees not attending the
program.

Benefits of the research

44
 • We can find out the awareness of LMS among the
employees

• We can find out reasons of employees for not

attending programs

• We can enlist the difficulties both technical and non

technical that are being encountered

• We can get suggestions for improvements and new

requirements in programs

• This research will help me to understand how HR

practices works at corporate level.

Research Design
The research design is the blue print for fulfilling
objectives and answering the questions. Selecting a
design may be complicated by the availability of large
45
variety of methods, techniques, procedures, protocols
and sampling plans. By creating design using diverse
methodologies, we are able to achieve greater insight. So
the advantages of several competing designs are
considered before settling on the final one.
The essentials of the research design are:

• An activity and time based plan

• A plan always based on the research question

• A guide for selecting source and types of information

• A procedural outline for very research activity

Ours is a formal study. It begins with the research
question and involves precise procedures and data
sources specifications. The goal of the formal design is to
test the hypothesis or answer the research questions.
Descriptive studies like ours are a more formalized study
that is typically constructed with clearly stated
hypothesis or investigative questions.
The method of data collection that we have applied is
communication study, where we question the subjects
and collects their responses by personal and impersonal
means. The collected data is resulted from questionnaire
and personal interviews. A survey is a measurement tool
used to collect highly structured information during an
interview. Questions are carefully formulated and
sequenced and precisely asked to each participant.

46
The goal of the survey is to derive comparable data
across the chosen sample so that the similarities and
differences can be found.
The strength of the survey as a primary data collecting
approach is its versatility. Abstract information of all
types can be gathered by questioning others.
Additionally, a few well chosen questions yield
information that would take much time and effort to
gather by observation.
A survey via personal interview is a two way conversation
between an interviewer and participant. This is our
chosen method. The greatest value lies in the depth of
the information that can be secured. Also they have more
control than the other kinds of communication studies.
Moreover, we have an ex post facto design, where we
have no control over the variables in the sense of being
able to manipulates them. We can only report what has
happened or what is happening. This is important so that
we do not introduce bias.
The research requires completion of each step before
going to the next. Some steps do being out of sequence,
some are carried out simultaneously and some get
omitted.

47
 The Management Research Question:
The approach is to firstly understand the basic problem
that has prompted the research and then develop
questions by progressively breaking down the original
question into more specific ones. The management
question is usually a symptom of an actual problem, such
as ‘Non-usage of LMS’. Choosing on the problem is very
important because incorrect identification will direct
valuable resources on a path that may not provide
critical- decision making.

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:

Discover Define Define

Management Management Research
problem Question Questions

Step 1: Discover Management Problem

This may be either a problem or an opportunity. We have
reviewed published sources and interview information
from the administrator to understand the problem and
not just the symptoms of the problem
Step 2: Define Management question

48
We collected information and worded the problem in the
question for. This stage usually involved interviews with
the administrator and experts.
Step 3: Define Research Question
Several research questions are formulated. Each question
is n alternative action that management might take to
solve the issue. Usually the most plausible action is the
one that offers the greatest gin and uses few resources.
While formulating the research question we have kept in
mind that it has to be fact oriented as well as information
gathering questions. It is very important that only
reasonable alternatives are considered.

The questions can be categorized into two parts:

Investigative questions

They are the questions that the respondents must

answer to satisfactorily arrive at the conclusion. To
formulate them we take a general research question
and break it into more specific questions about which
to gather data. These kinds of question are added to
guide the research design.

Measurement questions

49
These questions are custom tailored to investigative
questions. They are the ones that we actually ask the
respondents. They appear on the questionnaire.

50
 Sampling
The basic idea of sampling is that by selecting some of
the elements in a population, we can draw the conclusion
of the entire population. A population element is the
individual participant or object for which measurement is
taken. In our case the element are the employees. The
population is the total collection of elements about which
we wished to make an inference. In our case, the
population is the set of employees from M1 to M11 level
at EPIL, which is a total of 628. Our sample size is 40
employees. We have chosen the sated sample size for
greater speed of data collection and availability of
population elements. We have considered the following
characteristics of a good sample:
Accuracy: In our sampling, bias are absent

Precision: no sample will fully represent its

population. However to interpret the results
correctly, we have ensured that sample closely
represents the population.
Population: 628
Sample size: 40
The sampling method used is probability sampling
method. It is based on the concept of random selection,
which is a controlled procedure that assures that each
population has a non zero chance of selection. This
method is never haphazard. This is the only method that
51
provides n estimate of precision which is very critical.
Also, it provides an opportunity to generalize the findings
to the population of interest from the sample population.
In our project we have used stratified random sampling
method. In this method we have constrained the sample
to include elements from each segment which is called
strata. Our team has 11 levels which are divided from M1
to M11. They are broadly classified into 3 major sections-
senior management, middle management and junior
management.

The reasons for choosing this method are

To increase statistical efficiency
To provide adequate data for analyzing
Moreover it will be useful to us as we will be able to study
the difference in the characteristics of the population
subgroups. This will enable us to draw conclusions about
different levels of management in terms of LMS usage.
We have also used proportionate stratified sampling
where the sample size drawn from the stratum is
proportionate to the stratum’s share of the total
population. Looking at the organization structure with
more junior managers and fewer senior managers, we
have divided the sample into 3 categories, taking larger
number of employees of junior management and lesser
number of managers as we move up the ladder through
middle and senior management.
52
53
 Measurement
Scales used in formulating our questionnaire are:
1. Nominal scale
Nominal scale is one of the most popular and widely
used scales in any kind of business research. We have
used nominal scale is collecting information on a
variable that can naturally be grouped into two or more
categories that are mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive.
2. Interval scale
This scale gives options in the form of intervals. This
scale is used in question 5 where we are trying to find
out how frequently employees use LMS
3. Ratio scale
Ratio scale incorporates all the features of the above
scales plus the provision for absolute zero. We have
used this scale in question 5 for those employees who
never/rarely use the LMS
4. Rating scale

a. Likert scale:
In this scale, the participant chooses one of the
four or five levels of agreement. The extreme two

54
 groups represent people with most favorable and
least favorable attitudes towards the attitude
being studied. Numbers may be assigned to each
possible answer. It is very popular scale and easy
and quick to construct.

b. Simple category scale

This scale offers 2 mutually exclusive response
choices: yes/no. they offer discrete categories
which are especially useful for demographic
questions.

c. Multiple choice single response

These are questions where there are multiple
options for the rater but only on answer is sought.
Most of the questions are of this type.

5. Ranking scale
In ranking scales raters directly compare two or more
“objects” and make comparison between them. He is
asked to select the best or the “most preferred” choice.
This is used in question 13 where the raters are asked
to name their three most favorite programs.

55
 Analysis and Interpretation

1. Do you feel learning is given adequate importance at

EPIL?

18

16

14 16
12

10
1
1
8 11

0
Not at all 0 A little Somewhat Verymuch

We can see, a lot of people feel that learning and

development is given importance here. Although the
degree to which the importance is given varies from
little to very much. About 42% people feel that
‘moderate’ importance is given to learning and
development, while 29% of people believe that a lot
of importance is given to learning and development.

56
2. Do you know about the Learning Management
system at Gurukul?

We can see that all employees know about LMS.

57
3. How do employees know about Learning
Management System?

58
 40
3
35 6

30

25

20
T
tleA
x
is

15

2 2
10

0
Promotional Superiors Collegues
measures

AxisTitle

A lot of promotional efforts were taken to spread

awareness about LMS and Gurukul. His was done through
e-mails and personalized sessions an d group awareness
sessions.

4. Do you use LMS?

59
 0%
0%

Yes
47%
No
53%

We see that about 52% of the people interviewed have

not used LMS. However the frequency of usage varies.

5. How often do you use it?

60
25

21

20

15

10
10

0
Once a week Once a month Once in 2-3 months Rarely

61
6. If your usage is once in 2-3 months or rarely then
what is the reason?

16 15

14

12

10

6
4 4
4

0
Work Load Unrelated No Motivation
Programs

We see that the reason for infrequent usage is

mostly workload. About 68% of employees feel that
they do not have time to se LMS due to work
pressures. Some do feel the need of motivation,
especially by the immediate superiors. They feel that
this will encourage them to take up programs. The
employees lo feel that the courses are not related to
the work responsibility.

62
7. What do you feel is the major issue in not accessing
LMS?

24
25

20

14
15

10

5
2
0
0
Computer Accessibility Slow speed No issue
availability

It was seen that mostly people who were working in

the office ha no issue in accessing the LMS. There
were some difficulties before which were solved
recently. 60% of people were not facing any problem
while accessing. However, some of those who have

63
 temporary offices on site did have accessibility
issues. This was about 35% of the population. a small
percentage also aced the problem of slow speed of
intranet. It was seen that computer availability was
not really an issue.

8. If accessibility is the problem, then what is the

reason?

64
 Sales

0%

Others
43%
Pop up blocker
50%

Java, Flash not

available
7%

The most common issue here was ‘Pop up blocker’.

At the same time people were also facing problems
like ‘details not imported on Learn track’ and ‘access
Denied’ messages on screen.

9. Do you find LMS programs relevant?

65
 15 15

5 5

Verymuch Somewhat Irrelevant Cant say

It was seen that 75% of people felt that the programs

were related to the work responsibility. Few also felt
that most of the programs were generic in nature
and not necessarily helpful to them.

66
10. Do you feel that the course content is difficult to
comprehend?

22

11

VeryDifficult Moderate Easy Cant say

The course seemed to be easy to understand. They

are also convenient because they can be divided into
slots so that learner can start and stop anytime.

67
11. Do you feel the need of a trainer during the
course?

0% 0%

Yes
25%

No
75%

Mostly people did not feel the need of a trainer. They

feel that the courses are well designed and easy to
comprehend.

68
12. Do you feel that your supervisor is motivating
you to take up the training programs?

20

11

Most of the time Sometime Never

69
 There seems to be lack of motivation on the part of
the superiors, especially for LMS. Superiors do
recommend them for classroom training, but
encouragement to use LMS seems to be difficult.

13. Do you think that you would be interested in the

program if specific time is allotted to you by your
supervisor?

70
 0% 0%0%

No
23%

Yes
77%

People did seem interested in learning at Gurukul but

were pressed for time. A lot of them felt that if some
courses could be made mandatory, that might prove
to be useful. At the same time a lot of the users felt
that flexible timing is a better option. Due to the
nature of work and deadlines, fixed time may be
difficult to maintain.

71
14. Are you satisfied with the course content?

30

25

20

Course Content
15 Test
Reading Material
10

0
Yes No Cant Say

Course content - Those who have attended programs

or have gone through the course have found it quiet
satisfactory. A lot of them have not registered
themselves, so they could not comment.

Quality of test on course completion – a few of them

have taken the tests and have found it quiet
satisfactory. Some did face a few technical problems,
which were later reported.

72
 Quality of reading material – those who have read
the reading material and other articles at Gurukul
have liked it. However a large portion of the sample,
have never gone through any reading material.

Some of the most favored programs:

• Leadership

• Time management

• Supply chain management

• Project management

• Decision making

• Giving feedback management guide

• Stress management

Some of the suggested programs:

• Basic design criteria

• Construction management

• IFRS

• Taxation

• Video tutorial for MSP

• Advanced project management

73
 • Investment decisions and funding management

Conclusion
From the above study, we find that the Learning
Management System has not achieved its expected
success at EPIL. Though a lot of middle and senior level
managers use LMS, it is not very popular with the junior
managers. The senior and middle level managers do take
up programs and tests on management topics like
negotiation skills, time management, stress
management, managerial skills etc. and have found it
very useful. The Programs are still to become popular
with the junior managers who are only looking for specific
courses, related directly to their work responsibility.
The difficulty faced by the people in using LMS to a large
extent is the ‘nature of the job’ i.e. “Construction”. People
here work on projects – Steel plant, power plant,
refineries etc. So they are constantly on a deadline.
Moreover, the projects differ so they have a sense of
newness with each project. Each project is different from
the previous one, giving them a constant chance to learn.

74
So a lot of them feel that they learn more with hands on
work.
Another reason for limited usage of LMS is that usually
people employed at a junior level are unable to envision
their growth through overall learning and development.
Also, employees are in construction related projects
based works and are unclear about their precise job
responsibility in future; that changes with the project.
They feel that generic programs will not solve their
specific problems.
Still, since the inception of LMS a few months back, the
program has gained momentum. Awareness is repeatedly
created through mails and desk to desk sessions. More
and more people seem to register and login. With guided
efforts the program will prove to be a great success.
Suggestions and Recommendations
The LMS does have the potential to become great
success in EPIL. However, few additional measures can
also be taken:

• Encouragement by the superiors will prove to be an

enabler for the usage of programs at LMS.
Employees can discuss the programs and their
results with superiors.

• The programs should be made compulsory. They

could differ according to the department and
position. Nonetheless, if they are made mandatory,
employees are bound to make time for them.

75
• Specific time can be allotted once week, for
employees to compulsorily login at LMs for a course.
This can be specified but the superior depending
upon the schedules and deadlines of the week.
Automatic reminders could be generated if the
person has not logged in a particular week.

• Constant reminders should be sent regarding

interesting articles, new developments and updates
available at LMS.

• Since EPIL is a construction based company, few

articles and programs specifically for construction
can also be incorporated besides others.

• The course content can be customized according to

the specific needs of the Essar group. The content
should be complemented with the examples and
case studies from the company or the market that
the company targets.

76
 Bibliography

1. Cooper Donald R. , Schindler Pamela, “Research

Methodology”
2. Universal Law Publishing
3. K Ashwathappa
4. www.essar.com

77
 Questionnaire

1. Do you feel learning and development is given

adequate importance at EPIL?

Not at all little somewhat

very much

2. Do you know about the Learning Management

System in Gurukul?
Yes No
3. How did you come to know about it?
Promotional measures Superiors
Colleagues
4. Do you use LMS?
Yes No
5. How often do you use it?
Once a week Once a month Once in 2-3
months Rarely

78
6. If your usage is once in 2-3 months or rarely then
what is the reason?

Work Load Not Computer Savvy Programs

not related to work Not Motivated

7. What do you feel is the major issue in not accessing

LMS?

Computer availability accessibility to the module

Slow speed of PC

8. If accessibility is the problem, then what is the

reason?

Pop up Blocker Java, Flash not enabled

Other

9. Do you find LMS programs relevant?

Very relevant somewhat relevant mostly

irrelevant can’t say

79
10. Do you feel that the course content is difficult to
comprehend?

Very difficult Moderately difficult Easy to

understand Can’t say

11. Do you feel the need of a trainer during the

course?
Yes No
12. Do you feel that your supervisor is motivating
you to take up the training programs?
Most of the times Sometimes Never
13. Do you think that you would be interested in the
program if specific time is allotted to you by your
supervisor?
Yes No
14. Are you satisfied with the course content?

Yes No Can’t say

15. Are you satisfied with the quality of assignment/

tests on course completion?
Yes No Can’t say

80
16. Are you satisfied with the quality of content
material recommended?

Yes No Can’t say

17. Which programs do you find most useful in LMS?

( Top 3 )

1.
2.
3.

18. What additional programs would you

recommend for LMS?
1.
2.
3.

81
 19. Learning objectives for the program?

Program 1 Program 2 Program 3

1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3.
4. 4. 4.
5. 5. 5.

Target Group
Program 1 Program 2 Program 3

Course Content
Program 1 Program 2 Program 3
1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3.
4. 4. 4.
5. 5. 5.

Program Duration

82
Program 1 Program 2 Program 3

Recommended Reading
Program 1 Program 2 Program 3

Thank you

83