The one-year diploma course is being conducted under the aegis of the training resources division of Ion Exchange, a business unit set up two years ago to offer customised training courses in water, utility and environment management and skills development as well as consultancy assessment and audit services in HRD and Quality.

Says Leslie D'Souza, chief executive, Ion Exchange, Training Resources, ``We intend absorbing all the students at the end of the course, which will essentially equip them to learn skills ranging from serving to selling watertreatment plants.''

The salary levels willrange from Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh annually. The diploma programme will be an on-the-campus course held within the premises of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar University in Mangoan in Maharashtra. The first batch will start the course in August this year.

The Training Resources Division of Ion Exchange was initiated to provide training for managing water resources to address various requirements along with an OD (organisation development) element thrown in. The focus has been on reducing operational expenses and downtime, thereby optimising plant performance. Some of the existing modules on offer include high purity water treatment, reverse osmosis water treatment and advanced reverse osmosis water treatment.

In fact, the division has always combined technical training with behavioural training. Says D'Souza, ``We believe in synergistic training as opposed to the usual `teacher teaching' type of training. Employees of organisations pool in their experiences through a set of designs in terms of training activity.''

Atpresent, the training division offers business management for corporates in the form of Paradigm Prism workshops, Belbin's Interplace (Team Roles), grid seminars, executive development programmes, outdoor management development programmes, and The Business Management Experience.

For example, recently, the division undertook the task of evolving a performance management system for the Taj Group of Hotels. Department and HR heads from almost 40 hotels of the group were taught to implement the performance management system. Another recent venture was an outdoor management development programme at Khandala for 42 STAR Plus employees. Asian Paints employees were imparted training on both the technical and OD fronts.

The sole distributors of the software for The Business Management Experience, Ion Exchange's simulation technique packs four years of business decision-making into four days. Currently, the software has been installed at the Birla Management Training Institute.

Executive Development Programmesoffer modules pertaining to planning, leadership, decision-making, conflict resolution, etc. Some of the modules also form part of the Hotel Management Institute.

Today, a host of corporates resort to training (both technical and behavioural) for their employees: Philips India, Mahindra Holidays, the Taj Group, Colgate Palmolive, Ramond Demn, Hindustan Lever, Hindustan Thompson Associates and the Eicher Group are among Ion Exchange's clients.

Adds D'Souza, ``Our USP is probably the fact that our training is done in such a way that it facilitates the process whereby the company develops the internal capabilities to continue the process in the future.''

Besides, Ion Exchange Training Resources have also set up an exclusive contract with the Creighton group for consultancy services in India on ISO 14000 Environmental Management Systems.

Says D'Souza, ``Corporates are realising that environmental performance makes good business sense. ISO 14000 has a direct impact on profitability, leading to direct costsavings through process efficiency gains with a critical focus on waste, energy and materials management.''

Other collaborations in its other training modules are with David H Paul Inc. of USA, which is an internationally recognised water treatment training and consulting firm for reverse osmosis and high purity water treatment; Don Porter Associates Inc. of USA for business management skills; Belbin's Associates of UK for human resource management; Scientific Methods Inc. of SA for grid seminars for managers, and Community Colleges for International Development of USA for their internationally renowned training modules using multimedia.

Summing up the vision of his company, D'Souza says, ``We want to be innovators in education and training to develop human potential for managing business and environment.''