Biotechnology, the science to use and manipulate natural living systems to derive products or information for commercial applications, has attracted a lot of attention in India in recent times. After the Information Technology revolution in the nineties, Biotechnology has been projected as the next big wave for business in the new millennium. Many states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu have taken the lead towards establishing a base for biotechnology to attract global investments in their respective states. The formation of "Biotech parks" is one such initiative in these states.
Biotechnology made its transition from academic laboratories to corporate boardrooms in the West at least 15 to 20 years ago. Recombinant DNA and genetic engineering have fueled the explosion of commercial potential in biology; in fact the central dogma of molecular genetics can, in a lighter vein be read as: DNA makes RNA makes protein which makes money. However, it is important to remember that the science of biotechnology is deeply rooted and founded on basic principles and concepts of biology; ideas arising out of exploratory research have been translated to applications to bring in revenues and profits.
Managing a biotechnology business is similar to managing other businesses, but one factor that assumes relatively more significance in biotechnology is people. Often, a start-up biotechnology enterprise revolves around a basic scientific idea, which arises through scientific thinking, either individually or collectively. It is this core need of idea creation, which is at the heart of the biotechnology business - a pipeline of new scientific ideas has to constantly feed into the business, where those that have the maximum commercial potential have to be identified.People have to translate ideas into action.
At the core of a biotechnology enterprise, its human resources are key to its success. In India, they are sourced from universities, educational and research institutions either in India or from overseas. At junior levels, typically the scientific resources are post-graduates (M.Sc, M.Tech, M.Pharm etc.) in microbiology, biochemistry, cell biology etc. from various indian universities and educational institutions.At mid and senior levels, organizations look for wide-ranging and in-depth scientific experience, who have specialized in specific areas of relevance, within the above domains, and are willing to search for suitable talent from across the globe.
Scouting for such talent involves time, effort and money. The domains are in most cases overlapping and hence their expertise becomes inter-disciplinary. In a very broad sense, these have been knowingly or unknowingly differentiated as the doers and the thinkers / planners. An unwritten philosophy which is based on general management theories seems to be that the junior scientific pool comprises of "soldiers" at the front-line or site of action, to execute scientific experiments, whilesenior and relatively more experienced scientists act as the "strategists" in terms of thinking, planning and conceptualizing.
While this could be true and justified in most situations, organizations that wish to maximize possibilities and widen the net for capturing ideas would do well to harness the talent that is available at all levels to unleash creativity and innovation from every single resource.Unfortunately, our education system has done precious little to address these vital issues, which are paramount for success in any industry today, let alone biotechnology.
Biotechnology as a subject in modern education has found a place in almost all Indian universities and educational institutions.In some states, biotechnology as a course has been introduced at the undergraduate level, and sometimes projected as a course to develop young entrepreneurs. This is quite out of tune with the need of the hour.What is essential is to build the foundations of basic modern biology in young undergraduates and spur the interest in them to pursue specific disciplines within biology (such as microbiology, cell biology and biochemistry) in post-graduation and further on in doctoral studies.
Biotechnology courses in India as they exist today offer an abbreviated amalgamation of various disciplines, often without doing justice to these to the extent required. These disciplines are given superficial coverage in the courses offered, as a result of which students are unable to gain an in-depth understanding of any of the underlying streams in biology. In such a situation, it is difficult for a post-graduate student to develop a wholesome and integrated perspective in the disciplines, whereby basic fundamentals may not be grasped in their entirety.
At the school level, biology is taught by some state-level educational authorities in a fragmented manner, which spills over to college or undergraduate levels. Excessive emphasis on classical biology in some of these systems lead to descriptive and non-analytical learning modes, where information is disseminated as a string of facts to be memorized and not as a science that requires analytical dissection and application of the human mind.
A paradigm shift in our educational system is required whereby biology must be treated as an exploratory, experimental and analytical subject as much as physical sciences or mathematics. It is important to differentiate between classical biology and analytical or quantitative biology, since biotechnology's core focus is on the latter frameworks. This is not to decry the importance of classical biology, which should certainly form the initial foundation on which analytical biology should be built.
From the point of view of the biotechnology industry, let me share some reflections from personal experience. New recruits at entry-level positions (typically M.Sc, M.Phil or M.Tech in any branch of biosciences) coming out of universities and institutions need to "unlearn" quite a bit before they are reoriented some of the fundamentals in the subject.
- Students need to understand that in modern biology,"facts" as presented in textbooks are not static - these represent the current thinking, which may change in the light of new scientific information that may come in at a later date.
- Budding biotechnologists with grounding in mathematics at the undergraduate and / or post-graduate level have a distinct competitive advantage over others. Emphasis on quantitative and statistical methods along with their applications is imperative.
- Practical, analytical and problem-solving abilities in basic biochemistry, microbiology, cell biology and molecular biology are absolute essentials; educational courses in these areas should be oriented towards experimental approaches to solutions, case histories and hypothetical challenges to stretch the human mind.Training is often imparted on the job in performing experimental protocols, data interpretation and drawing scientific inferences and conclusions. More attention is often paid to gaining hands-on expertise in techniques and procedures; one must realize that these can be learnt along the way.
In contrast, analysis, interpretation and making valid scientific judgments based on precise observations and data are more difficult to cultivate, and need constant practice and perseverance. A student of science needs to develop the ability to link data and conclusions of one experiment or set of experiments to those derived from another in a meaningful manner and propose concepts or hypotheses. Wherever possible, he should be able to establish a logical and sequential scientific chain of thought in his work. In the long run, it is this skill along with many others, which will identify him as a scientist. Towards this objective, students need to be encouraged to take up experimental projects for short periods of time in industrial or established academic research laboratories. Here is where the industry can make a deep impact in collaboration with universities.
By providing opportunities to students coming out of universities to undertake short-term scientific projects, for example, as summer training workshop in their laboratories, industry can facilitate their experiential learning, which has maximum impact in terms of effectiveness.As a corollary to this, universities should make it mandatory for students to gain short-term such project-oriented experience in an industrial research or an established reputed academic setting.Such programs can fulfill two objectives; firstly, a social responsibility by the industry and secondly, promotion of industry-academic interaction and collaboration.
- In a biotechnology industry, scientists need to focus towards differentiation between generation of data and generation of meaningful data that advance projects. In this context, project management and advancement skills become critical. Often these crucial issues are overlooked by some companies, where it is taken for granted that experienced scientists can manage projects. Project management skills span a wide range of issues such as goal-setting, work-planning, assessment of resource and infrastructure requirements, time estimation, milestone identification, people management, communication and finally decision-making abilities, specifically "stop-go" decisions.
While it may be heart wrenching to close projects, which have originated from original ideas due to any business reason, scientists must learn to come to terms with such decisions and channel their energies towards new business imperatives. This is easier said than done, since scientific ideas arise from deep-rooted thoughts in individual scientific minds.
- Scientists are products of academia, often with relatively less commercial background or orientation. Since a biotechnology business has to be operated like any other business, scientists need to develop commercial focus with objectivity towards the business. In this context, scientists would do well to develop a reasonable degree of financial discipline with reference to their research, specifically in terms of awareness and working within budgets. Striving for a balance between controlling costs and pursuing scientific goals will remain a challenge for the biotechnology industry, since this industry is capital, revenue and resource intensive.
- Those who are recruited for mid-level positions in any company form the core of the organization, on which deliveries towards the organizational goals depend on. They need to equip themselves to design experimental approaches, envision scientific start and end-points, seek out critical information and link data and inferences from different overlapping disciplines. Deriving and proposing new ideas and the way forward, along with time management are critical abilities that are needed to advance scientific projects.
- At a more fundamental level, individuals who wish to pursue their careers in biotechnology must arm themselves with theoretical and practical knowledge on bio-safety and radiation safety issues, environmental impact of laboratory-work, patents and intellectual property issues as well as literature survey methods. The importance of documentation must be stressed at all levels. Clarity in this vital issue, especially in terms of maintaining scientific records and reports is paramount. Scientific documentation must reflect the twin facets of reproducibility and re-constructability of data. Our educational system in biotechnology must address these topics.
Today, the information technology revolution has opened up new frontiers such as bioinformatics and genomics; it must be remembered that these are tools available for accelerating research in modern biology and not endpoints by themselves. All said and done, problems in biology are solved on the laboratory bench, which are supported and to some extent facilitated by such computer-aided studies.
- Unlike the information technology industry, where the gestation-time of a project is relatively short, and turnover of the human resources is high, ideally, the association between a biotechnology company and a scientist can be expected to be a long one. A scientist grows to become a knowledge-asset to the organization over time, and it is crucial for organizations to retain them. Losing creative talent can prove to be costly, especially in terms of replacement and the loss of knowledge and expertise that may have been built up over the years. Continuity in the progress of a project could be a casualty in such times. Biotechnology is an expensive business to run, but then, the returns are high when they occur. Hence, industry would do well to deal with scientists as strategic long-term partners towards fulfilling a common vision and mission.
- Alternative career paths which are important to a biotechnology business should be major considerations. Some of these are careers in business development management, regulatory affairs, intellectual property, human resource management as well as public and media relations.Although science would be at the core of the biotechnology industry, these functions require competent individuals who understand the biotechnology business as much as a biotechnologist. Our education systems need to build and develop skills in these areas for aspiring students and professionals who may either not be suitable to the scientific steam or who may seek to choose these alternative careers. Marketing biotechnology-derived products or services requires competent professionals who may preferably originate from the scientific stream. Their customers in most cases would be scientists or technical professionals; technical marketing would be needed here.
A biotechnology company would also need professionals who would possess expertise in regulatory frameworks and intellectual property, with specific knowledge of the legal environment and context in which the company would operate. Considering the global attention that biotechnology has attracted in recent times, such a company must have a comprehensive strategy to effectively manage public relations, and especially the media. The image of the industry hinges on this crucial function to a considerable extent. Finally, human resources management needs to be an integrated into the business strategy of the company since people matter most in this endeavour.
- Organizations would do well to invest in people development, especially for their scientific pool. People development is one of the principal elements of motivation.Assessment of specific training needs, coupled with medium to long-term development plans will add value to a scientific career. Performance management systems must be designed to take this issue into account. Development in contrast to training is more abstract. Training focuses on procedures and protocols, whereas development is a continuous on-going process without a finite end, but with a perspective to meet future challenges. It can be viewed as a confidence-building measure which continuously adds to all-round capabilities of an individual.
Development plans for junior scientists can address ways to help them face complex scientific issues and problems with a long-term aim to become experts in their fields. They have to graduate over time from merely conducting experiments to hypothesizing scientific concepts and designing experimental approaches to test the validity of such concepts. Development plans for experienced scientists can enrich and diversify their experience to broaden their scientific horizons as well as build their leadership skills. At senior levels, as in any other industry, management and leadership skills are most important with objective decision-making abilities as the key issue. Scientific thought leadership towards novel and pioneering directions in specific disciplines should be another major thrust area for development of senior scientists. A word of caution here is to maintain the focus on the commercial objectives of the biotechnology company while embarking on development plans to ensure a balanced alignment between the two priorities.
- Apart from technical and scientific skills that a scientist in a biotechnology company must possess, soft-skills and competencies are two other major areas that need a lot of attention. These areas are sometimes neglected by some organizations or trivialized. Communication, interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team are absolute essentials. These factors ultimately depend on the personality and conscience of the individual; training and development programs in these areas can only lead the horse to the water, but cannot make it drink. While individual contributions are of course important, since ideas would originate from individual minds, successful organizations harness the collective creativity and innovation potential of their teams by encouraging scientists to pool their minds together to work towards unifying goals.
The second area that scientists must focus on is that of competency development. These are behavioral indicators that are essential for successful performance at work. Competencies can be classified into clusters, whereby those essential for different functions and levels can be defined at the outset, for example: self-managing competencies, thinking competencies, achieving competencies and people-management competencies.
This industry is prone to rapid change and advances. Scientists in this field need to be constantly exposed to new technologies and information. An in-house physical and electronic library, equipped with relevant books and scientific journals are basic requirements for any organization. This apart, scientists need to participate in national and international seminars, workshops and symposia to exchange information, communicate with peers and to gauge trends in the field. Sabbaticals and secondments, whereby scientists are facilitated to work for defined periods in laboratories other than their own on different or related areas also add value to both the individual and the organization.
The organization can benefit by applying the new tangible knowledge that the scientist may have gained through such processes. For the individual, his professional status and knowledge are enhanced by participating in such a program. However, the organization and the individual must define the objectives of such a program beforehand and ensure alignment and commitment to mutual goals, since high costs and commitments by various stakeholders are involved. These stakeholders, who are investing their time, effort and money are the sponsoring organization, the host institution and the individual who is to participate in the sabbatical or secondment.
It is important to educate scientists entering the field on scientific ethics and philosophy, along with an overview of the scientific process. Values that an ideal scientist will imbibe are confidentiality, scientific integrity towards data-generation, documentation, discretion in information handling and above all trust and respect for peers and colleagues. The individual must realize that the organization places a significant amount of confidence and trust while assigning responsibilities for carrying out his scientific functions. Likewise, the individual has to trust the organization that his legitimate interests and scientific needs will be protected or provided for.
Although conflict and debate are integral to the scientific ethos, these have to be managed with care to avoid dysfunctionality. The spectre of credit looms large in any successful scientific endeavour and so are the rewards that go along with such success. These seemingly "minor" issues tend to get marginalised in organizations to their detriment. Clear-cut and transparent policies on these management issues for a scientific environment will go a long way in contributing to a healthy atmosphere in the organization.
Finally, with reference to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, organizations that wish to gain the maximum out of their scientific talent must explore ways and means to keep the scientists at the highest levels of motivation possible and aim to help them realize their potential i.e. self-actualization, but in the sphere of organizational goals.
The company must also ensure that its "hygiene" and motivation factors are functional and effective. Efficient support systems in terms of responsive, responsible and professional administrative functions facilitate the progress of a biotechnology company towards its stated goals. In this regard, it is important for scientists to recognize and respect the identity and distinctiveness of professional areas other than their own. Often they may be tempted to digress from their own scientific functions into these areas leading to unproductive conflicts.
In summary, managing and motivating scientific human resources are critical factors in the success of any biotechnology enterprise. Our education system must focus on overhauling its programs in biotechnology towards analytical learning, experimental problem-solving, data interpretation and scientific visioning. The Indian industry would need to explore ways to attract and retain the best available scientific talent from the global arena. Recruitment processes should be designed to assess the scientific worth of candidates and their relative suitability to organizational objectives and culture, as well as be able to differentiate between awareness, proficiency and in-depth expertise in any particular discipline.
Compensation packages and reward systems must seek to attract the best talent, and should not revolve around monetary aspects alone. Projecting a supportive and caring image, work-life balance and scientific excellence are factors to be considered in this context. Training and development programs must address scientific needs at different levels, with the objective of developing cross-functional, domain-specific and lateral expertise, both in scientific and managerial domains. In addition, for a biotechnology company to flourish, it has to create an internal ambiance and an external image to attract and stimulate creativity and innovation, as well as unleash the scientific spirit to achieve organizational goals. A healthy, supportive, intellectually-rich and participative culture in the company, where symbols of hierarchy are either absent or as subdued as possible, will provide a conducive environment for scientific enrichment and excellence. It is imperative that the Indian biotechnology industry keeps pace with global benchmarks in the field, keeping the above parameters in view, if it has to succeed in this newly emerging arena.
By providing opportunities to students coming out of universities to undertake short-term scientific projects, for example, as summer training workshop in their laboratories, industry can facilitate their experiential learning, which has maximum impact in terms of effectiveness. As a corollary to this, universities should make it mandatory for students to gain short-term such project-oriented experience in an industrial research or an established reputed academic setting. Such programs can fulfill two objectives; firstly, a social responsibility by the industry and secondly, promotion of industry-academic interaction and collaboration.
- The author is currently Manager - Human Resources at AstraZeneca India, Bangalore