Sometimes Keeping Quiet Costs More...

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organization. And written by me is a recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager HR Magazine June 2019 edition

Road Roller COO

Hoshiyar Singh, an IIM alumini, with about 15 years of hands on operations experience, is the COO of this HMCG Company, sitting at corporate office. He is here since last 7 years. Slightly loose tempered with having less control on his language and words, he is considered  as high headed  professionals  believes in direct results what come may. He is swift in firing people if not capable of keeping pace with him. He believes that fear is the best motivation and employees should always be on their toes to deliver. Being responsible for operations of two facilities situated at different locations, he keeps travelling to facilities to have his psychological control intact over the people managing the facility. 

At corporate office he also looks after, business development, marketing, supply chain and finance. Only HR is the function which also reports to board in parallel with COO. But functionally, He has been successful in getting nod of the board for his prior approval of all appointments made by HR in respect of corporate and facilities openings.

Gautam being VP HR is a leader who believes in securing his job and lead easy life without any confrontation with either COO or board, it was only because of his nature and trait, Hoshiyar Singh was able to snatch powers of prior approval of all appointments from HR which was not earlier. It was only of information sake; COO was kept in loop by Gautam. Gautam has been in this company since last 10 years and has been close to the directors of the company because of his submissive nature. He accepts things as it is and hardly takes a stand on critical matters. Hoshiyar Singh by understanding Gautam’s personality slowly weakend him and overpowered the decision making process at corporate level being very smart in presentation skills.

During last eight months, about 12 people in corporate office in middle and senior level have left the organisation.  It was becoming a challenge for Gautam to contain the exodus. He put all efforts to fill the vacancies and was also to some extent also but on higher salary.

Board has asked Gautam to put a presentation on the increasing rate of attrition and proposed measures, he want to take. Gautam remembered the incident happened in the office about eight months back.

…. It was when he selected one female Astt. Manager HR for taking charge of PMS and training function. She was selected out of four short listed candidates put before him by the Sunil, DGM -HR. All the papers were sent to COO for formal approval but to his surprise, Hoshiyar Singh rejected the appointment and sent the papers back to Gautam. He was shocked to see the rejection of the person which was selected by him. He stood up and moved to Singh’s cabin along with papers but seeing him coming in gallery of the hall where all staff were sitting, Gautam decided to talk to him on the way.

Gautam: Sir, why did you reject the candidate?

Singh: Useless. Don’t know what you see in person when select. She has changed four jobs in five years. Not even fully qualified.

Gautam: But, I have assessed her, she meets our requirement.

Singh’s volume rose. He could not exercise and shouted at Gautam,” Gautam, you know what you have done to the company? You have appointed the fleet of eunuchs here. Nobody is competent. Don’t know who has shortlisted and selected this girl? He is also not competent.(gautam tumne  pata hai kya kiya hai yahan par? Tumne hijron ki fauj bhartee  kar li hai yahan. Sab gadhe rakhe hue hain… Koi kabil nahi hai). Singh was quite loud but there was a stunning silence in the hall. Singh snatched the papers from gautam’s hand and signed the approval papers.

Before Gautam could understand what happened and why Singh was so loud in open with such remarks on all persons sitting there, Singh went back to his cabin. 

Gautam also came back. He could not resist to what Singh uttered. He even could not assert that Sunil-DGM-HR had shortlisted four persons out of which he selected only one.

In the evening Sunil, DGM –HR and one more employee came to Gautam’s cabin.Gautam could assess that what was going to be discussed.

Gautam: If you all guy want to talk about morning episode, pl. don’t. I am not in a mood to discuss that.

But sir, we all are not here to listen abuses of some one. We report to you. You should have responded and restrained him for talking nonsense where female employees were also sitting . Was this the language COO has to use to Head HR about his people?  Should we show him what we are? Sunil said to Gautam in anger and agony.  We kept quiet sir because of you only but you have not stood by us. We are humiliated openly before you and you could not protect us.

Gautam: Why should I retaliate?  Should I also have to come low to match his words? It is office and I never wanted to create a dirty scene. If you want, you go and say to him whatever you want. I am with you. Go and slap him even. I will see, nothing will happen to you. 

Sunil came out by saying, “we will decide what has to be done now, but sure, without seeking your support sir.”

This happened about eight months back. Much water has flown now till now.

Gautam is busy in preparing a presentation. He is missing Sunil also today. He has also left much before.

Questions for Discussions and Solutions:

1) Analyse the leadership traits of Hoshiyar singh and Gautam?

Hoshiyar Singh believes that by instilling fear in the minds of the employees, disciplining them, by following hiring & firing policy at all times and thus making them feel insecure about their job is the best way to run an organisation. “Company aise hi chalana chahiye” is what is the belief of Hoshiyar Singh. Hoshiyar Singh comes across as a highly temperamental person who must also be a very difficult person to work with. Hoshiyar Singh likes creating an atmosphere of instability, anxiety and uncertainty. He constantly likes to keep on chopping and changing. His is not a people-oriented type personality, lacks people handling skills, does not value employees and is definitely not a sociable person to work with as seen in the case study that he has no control over his language to his subordinates and other office colleagues. Singh comes across as a person who would like to be in control at all times, a controlling type. This type of personality nature also stems from a deep fear of insecurity within that will lose grip if things are not in control or if unaware of everything that is happening. Such type of personalities lack ‘Trust’ in people. They are also very poor in delegating tasks or in getting work done or will get very average quality work output because of attitudinal nature. They will be never be able to inspire or motivate people. Great leaders don’t talk down to their employees or make them feel inferior. Respect is a must.

Gautam on the other hand appears to be a soft spoken person who prefers stability & security and thus would like to avoid confrontation at all times especially with his seniors for the fear of reprisal. Gautam is just playing it safe to preserve his position and privileges, just following orders. Gautam is thus most likely to follow his senior’s instructions at all times without asking any questions or policies. He will go about quietly doing his work & report when done. Gautam also appears to be a highly resilient type person given the fact that he could bear Hoshiyar Singh’s temperamental attitude at all times and work for so long with him. 

2) How do you rate the COO attitude and behaviour?

The COO appears to be a dreadful person to work with who is more worried about pushing his weight around than building relationships. COO think's that the organization revolves around him and that he is indispensible, maybe like the owner of company. COO seems to ignore employee feedback. Attitude of COO seems to be that of a hard “Taskmaster” - whose sole focus is on getting the work done, come what may. By continuously drilling the employees, COO is making them unhappy at work. COO also appears to be a person who will abuse power because of his position. He appears to be of insensitive type. 

This attitude and behaviour may work in the short term and may produce short term results but it is not good for the long term sustainability and health of the organisation. 

3) Where the problem lies in the story and do you also think that Gautam’s attitude was the reason of high attrition?

Employees join companies but leave managers. A Gallup poll concluded that the No. 1 reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor. 75% of workers who voluntarily left their jobs did so because of their bosses and not the position itself. In spite of how good a job may be, people will quit if the reporting relationship is not healthy. "People leave managers not companies...in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue."

Bad bosses are the No. 1 cause of unhappiness at work. People see the company only through their immediate boss. A manager who keeps abusing employees all the time and ill treats them will create an atmosphere of anxiety and distrust. A recent study says that 56% of employees would turn down a 10% raise to stay with a great boss. Treat employees fairly, reward them for their hard work and they will give 110%.

It is seen in the case study that Gautam has lost too many exceptional employees including Sunil DGM-HR who became disheartened because Gautam didn’t stand by him. Sunil too was humiliated by COO Hoshiyar Singh in a particular incident, but kept quiet because of Gautam. After that Sunil just went through the motions and quit HMCG Company until he found another job. Gautam was missing Sunil in present scenario when he was preparing a presentation for Board on increased rate of Attrition and proposed solutions. So the quiet nature of Gautam and not reporting to Board despite him having the authority and power to do so when it needed to be is definitely one of the reason’s for high attrition.

4) Had you been in place of Gautam, how you would have handled the situation?

Had I been in place of Gautam, I would have collected all the facts, data, information on high rate of attrition, summarised and presented them to the Board of the organisation along with the proposed solutions. All Exit Interviews data would be placed in front of the Board indicating the key reasons why people have exited the organisation and what is to be done about it, to stem the flow of attrition. 

Also I would have taken anonymous feedback from current employees, the resulting data of which would have supported the specific reasons for attrition and thus make the presentation to the Board on reasons for attrition more impactful. As VP-HR, it is within my authority to voice out beneficial suggestions for the organisation to tackle attrition and not just be quiet about it.

Also, I would have initiated succession planning for senior leaders, managers, and other workers at all levels of the organisation. This would be a proactive measure to counter attrition rate and fill the vacancies immediately as compared to reacting and taking action after the employee has left. By doing succession planning, by considering candidates, both internal and internal, the focus of the organisation will thus be on future sustainability and growth. 

Whistle blower should not become scapegoat

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organization. And written by me is a recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager HR Magazine April 2019 edition

The Unethical HR

P. Mohan Reddy , the works director was not happy to see an email in his mailbox after coming from routine meeting of all managers  and taking a review of manpower planning and continuous inflow of people to cater the plant needs. The main issue was of failure of  providing sufficient man power supply by HR to different departments on daily basis. The manufacturing facility was new so the recruitment drive was on full swing.

Initially the company thought of a policy of outsourcing many activities through  agencies to cater maximum needs and keep a stable minimum numbers of employees on permanent rolls. But after joining of new Recruitment Manager Shiva prakash from last one year, the policy was changed. On his suggestion, management agreed to increase employees’ numbers slowly on co. rolls to maintain the minimum inventory of head counts. Shiva was appointed by the corporate office with some reference of one of the independent board director.

Shiva prakash was devoting his maximum time with placement vendors to acquire maximum people to appoint them on co. permanent rolls.

The mail before Mr. Reddy was sent by Maintenance manager. He expressed his uneasiness about growing rate of attrition of people appointed on permanent Rolls. Maximum duration of employees was less than six months. His last line was much disturbing. He mentioned that the some boys had revealed that the same vendor providing us the manpower approached them for better opportunities and also poached them for some other organisations.  The people crisis was rather becoming more and more complex. It was becoming a challenge for Mr. Reddy. Till now he left everything on Shiva prakash . But after reading mail, he decided to get involved and go deeper to find out the reasons  behind all this. He called Shiva prakash to discuss the issue. Here is the conversation:

Reddy: Shiva what is this happening? Why we are not able to stable the employees inventory. Why so much attrition?

Shiva: sir, it is demand and supply issue. We are at very remote location. People join us, stay for some time and then leave as soon as get other opportunity.

Reddy: But we have increased the base salary rate and other allowances also as advised by you. What more you want to do ?

Shiva: I will ask placement vendor to be more serious and send us the candidates who are willing to stay back for long time.

Reddy: Everything is not right in your process. Call that vendor. I would like to meet him.

Shiva: Ok Sir.

Even after one week, placement vendor did not come to meet Mr. Reddy. This raised his eye brows.During this time, Reddy got  message from one HR officer assisting Shiva in recruitment process. He wanted to meet Reddy not in plant but at his residence. It was not normal. Things were looking messed up. He responded –“Send context of meet at my personal mail Id from your personal mail.  Then will meet.” 

Reddy got the mail in the same night. “ Sir, Everything is not right in Recruitment. I am no more involved in recruitment now. Things are not transparent. Mr. Shiva and other female colleague only are doing all activities.  Shiva does not trust me more . He is deeply involved with the placement vendor. I am never allowed to talk to him. He does everything of his own. I can share much if you permit to meet.”

Reddy Replied back. “Come 2maro morning before leaving for plant.”

HR officer, Sumit who was recruited by Reddy was in his first job. He belonged to well educated family. His father was senior bureaucrat. Many times sumit demonstrated his integrity and commitment towards organisation. Initially when he was assisting the administration, He caught scrap vendors loading/carrying material in collision with security guard at the post, which was not purchased by them. He compelled the vendor to unload the truck and re-segregated the scrap material. Rajni was appointed by Shiva.

When Sumit met Mr. Reddy at his residence and exposed Shiva, it was like a bombing. Sumit revealed that shiva was favouring the vendor unreasonably. He diluted the agreement terms also. Earlier, the vendor was responsible for providing free replacement if the candidate leaves within six month. Now the condition has been diluted to three months. Earlier the payment terms were of  three months. Now it has been reduced to one month only. The persons who are approaching directly to Co. for possible employment opportunities are discouraged and advised to come through vendor. In many cases Shiva shared the information of direct applicants to vendor and asked him to contact them and send their CVs through him. Sumit also requested that he can further investigate and takeout more details if Reddy permits him to do so. Reddy assured him that nothing will happen and he should continue watching him and his activities.

Reddy came to office, asked the finance manager to provide him the details of payments made to placement vendor during last one year. He was surprised to see the whopping payment figure. It was touching 10 million. He decided to put Shiva under surveillance.  He engaged a private vigilance agency. After fifteen days the agency shared his report of findings. It ran like this:

“The Placement agency named Metaphor executive search agency address provided was of a residential flat. There is no display board. People of the area do not know about any such business activity being carried out from the flat. Neighbourers revealed that an old couple resides there. The proprietor of the placement agency is relative of Mr. Shiva. The account statement obtained from bank unofficially in confidence reveals the interesting pattern of funds flow. Whenever the payment from the company was credited in the account of the agency, It was transferred to another account in the different branch of the same bank. The ultimate beneficiary in which amounts were used to be transferred belonged to one woman, who happened to be the wife of Shiva.  Rajni,the female employee working in the HR assisting in recruitment activities was spotted with Shiva in the restaurants and  malls of the  city far away from factory location during last fifteen days. The relationship reflected was not of a boss and a subordinate.”

Agency also enclosed the photographs of Shiva and Rajni while in restaurants and malls, bank statements of the agency, and his wife where amounts were transferred.”

Next morning , Before Reddy could think of any action against Shiva after discussing with corporate office and his confident managers, Shiva came running  to meeting room where Reddy was discussing some other issues with different managers in meeting room. He was perplexed. He said that that the female employee working in HR department has given a complaint of sexual harassment against Sumit  and the issue was very sensitive. He tried to molest her in the office when they were alone.  Shiva put the written complaint before Mr. Reddy. Shiva said that she was standing outside meeting room and wanted to see you sir. She is insisting that she will report the matter to the police.

Questions for Discussion and Solutions

1. Discuss the functional style and behavioural traits of Shiva vis-a vis of Mr. Reddy.

P Mohan Reddy seemed to be systematic & organised in his working style who obviously knows his work well & is deeply entrenched in it. He also appears to be a senior pro in his functional role as works director. The fact that he became alert of suspicious activities in hiring process once the attrition rate was pointed out by maintenance manager, seeing the enormous amount paid to a single placement agency vendor in last one year, dilution of T&C in agreements with vendor and also hiring of a vigilance agency for reporting of fraudulent activities states so. However one could point out that Mr. Reddy should not have given complete authority to Shiva to handle all recruitments & policy and decision making in that regards. Some level of control or regular reporting system had to be put in place by Mr. Reddy for Shiva. This was one of the lapse in the processes that has led ultimately to this fraudulent practices. However Mr. Reddy could also be forgiven on his part for this lapse as Shiva was recruited by reference of an independent board director.

Shiva Prakash appears to be a fraudulent employee whose sole objective is to make money using the company’s resources for his personal gains. He is also observed to be involved in extra-marital affairs in spite of having a family. Ethical behaviour or following ethical practices is not in the DNA of Shiva. Shiv Prakash cannot be trusted. The fact that he was devoting maximum time to recruitment activities by co-ordinating with his relative who ran the placement agency inspite of him being at a managerial position and not allowing his juniors to do so states the fact. Also due to lack of degree of control in work reporting to superiors, he misused the complete freedom & authority given to him to change recruitment policies, recruitment agreements with the vendors for his personal gains. Needs of the company were never his prerogative

Shiva Prakash’s acts are also very short-term minded. For how long, this will continue, one doesn’t know. It will be very difficult for Shiva Prakash to find another job after he is suspended from his current organisation once his fraudulent activities are found out, reported and acted upon.  

2. Discuss the people processes of the organisation? Were they correct or some review is required if so, what would you suggest?

Definitely, lots of review is required in the people processes of the organisation and also in other processes like finance, legal and vendor empanelment. First of all, Finance should have questioned as to why an enormous amount like 10 million is paid to a single placement agency Metaphor Executive. Finance should have questioned HR or atleast brought it to notice of Reddy since he is Director. Finance should not just be processing payments arbitrarily. Finance should be proactive

All agreements with vendors including HR related should have by Finance / Legal’s stamp of approval too on it. Because ultimately Finance is going to make payment & legal will come in the picture if there is some issue like the one as reported by the vigilance agency. So they should also be aware of it in the first place. The recruitment manager or for that matter HR should not be the sole approving authority. It’s too much of a risk. There has to be a maker-checker system.

There also seems to be absence of an authorised signatory process to sign all legal documents / T&C with vendors. Usually companies appoint a senior person to sign all external agreements / documents on behalf of the management / directors. But here it seems that it didn’t exist. Shiva made use of this process lapse to empanel his relative as an executive search firm. He only became the approving authority. Both maker and checker.

Also if Shiva had tendency of unethical & fraudulent behaviour, why wasn’t his previous employment reference check & background verification done. If this was done properly or had it been in place, then perhaps the organisation would have known his past history and maybe not hired Shiva in 1st place itself and all these issues that have happened as a result of it could have been avoided. 

It is to be noted that the case study mentions that Shiva Prakash was hired with the reference of an independent director by the corporate office. So what is the company HR’s hiring and selection policy if a candidate is referred by a director / management, will that candidate be given preference or should merit and need based selection be the sole criteria?

There also seems to be absence or lack of employment service rules that an employee should sign on the day of joining an organisation. The employment service rules should mention that the person in responsible function is strictly prohibited in entering into business contracts on behalf of the company with relatives. Basically, there should not be any conflict of interest which was seen here.  

Lastly, there also seems to be lack of whistle blower policy in the organisation wherein one can report fraudulent activities happening without any fear or malpractice happening to the whistle-blowing person that was seen in the case of Sumit being reported for sexual harassment by Shiva on behalf of female employee’s working in his dept. This means that employee’s working under Shiva are involved with him in his activities or might be doing it because he is their boss and has told them to do so or for fear of being exposed and nailed. Also why Sumit had to visit residence of Reddy and report the unethical behaviour of Shiva. Ideally, the company environment and culture should be such that one can work freely and report any wrong doings in the office itself. Shiva would have come to know Sumit has visited residence of Reddy and would have thus become suspicious. Hence in order to protect himself and his co-workers who are working in tandem with him, he counter levelled charges of sexual harassment against Sumit to protect his wrong doings.

3. What do you suggest, how Reddy should handle the situation move forward step by step now and come out as successful leader in a crisis?

There are two situations that Reddy has to handle now. Firstly, to expose the fraudulent activities by Shiva Prakash. Reddy has gone about systematically for that. He got information from maintenance dept. Based on that he verified the attrition report and reasons underlying it. Following that trail, he took details from Finance that further confirmed his doubts. He then had an independent agency conduct probe against Shiva Prakash who submitted their report.

Secondly, Reddy has to handle the counter allegation move by Shiva Prakash of sexual harassment against Sumit who had exposed his unethical behavior in the first place itself. Reddy can’t be seemed biased against Sumit also just because he has got proof against Shiva Prakash. For the sexual harassment complaint, it should be referred to the committee that the company would have setup or have in place as per POST Act, 2013. Reddy should also furnish the information that he has got about Shiva Prakash’s other activities to that committee so that they are aware of the background and credentials of the complainant too in the first place and so as to take an informed decision.

Regarding the fraudulent activities information collected by Reddy about Shiva Prakash, depending on the policies of the company, Reddy should forward it to the Corporate Office who will look into it and arrive at a decision. Reddy has done his duty as works director. The corporate office has to act upon it.

Sumit should be supported by Reddy and the company in his hour of crisis since he has done the whistle-blowing act in the best interests of the company against his departmental colleagues. Reddy should ensure that Sumit doesn’t become the scapegoat in these two incidences. The trail of information collected by Reddy against Shiva Prakash including the report by private agency should aid the case of both Reddy and Sumit. 

Technical skills alone are not enough to survive

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organization. And written by me is a recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager HR Magazine January 2019 edition 

When arrogance dilutes competence

It was not a very good start of the day for Ravinarayan DGM production engineering of this manufacturing unit. Joined only six months before, Ravi was finding some difficulty in handing his manager sushant who was there for lat 12 years i.e. since start of the unit and gradually promoted to this level.

The factory is a joint venture of India and Japan with management control of Indian professionals but at the same time Japanese management has deep interference in operational activities as they have deputed their people as operations head, quality and engineering Head. Indian Management Board also kept one manufacturing head having administrative control over all affairs. Both these Operations head and manufacturing heads were reporting to Indian MD.

Half an hour before Ravi had a hot altercation with sushant. Actually Ravi asked the new graduate trainee to submit his activity details for discussion, because in spite of repeated calling to sushant, he was not providing the details to Ravi which caused delay in planning certain activities. Knowing about asking graduate trainee to provide activity details directly by Ravi, sushant shouted on him in a derogatory manner as to why he asked the GET directly to provide details and bypassed him? Sushant’s tone was on high pitch. He cautioned Ravi, his boss that this way he can’t survive in the company and he (sushant) was not afraid of anyone as he has seen many bosses who have failed to control him and ultimately left the company.

Ravi was not prepared for this in front office openly when Ravi came out from daily morning meeting.  “Sushant- what happened? Why are you so annoyed? Let us go to the office and talk”, Ravi tried to play down the incident which was noticed by other managers also coming out of the meeting room along with him but nobody stayed there and pretended as nothing happened. It was shocks for Ravi as he never imagined that asking GET directly to provide details will make sushant so furious.

Both went towards Ravi’s Office but on the way while passing through corridors of manufacturing area, Sushant was talking very loudly. He also  challenged Ravi that he can do whatever he likes. He does not care for anyone. Ravi decided not to go to office with him and replied, “Sushant, I had to ask GET because you were not caring for my request since last 15 days and thing were getting delayed. I must know what you are planning and how you are going to deliver.” Ravi reminded Sushant that few days back he was instructed to take along another Astt. Manager while visiting Tooling Vendor companies, but he avoided his instructions and went alone for visit.  Ravi came to know only this fact when inquired from Astt. Manager about the outcome of visit and he revealed that sushant did not take him along as he kept waiting.
Ravi felt humiliated. He went to Manufacturing head Mr. Gopalan and reported the matter. Ravi briefed him about the incident and also said that it was not his first incident. Sometime back also he misbehaved with some store people when Sushant was requested not to avoid/bypass the laid down process for dispatch of moulds and dies to tooling Vendor Company. Sushant    thrashed him also for “intervening” in his way of working.

Actually sushant was blue eyed boy of  Japanese  Operations head Mr. Takimoka  and whenever,  his incidents  were reported to him, he took casually and advised manufacturing head Gopalan and Ravi to adjust with him as sushant was very old, senior and high potential manager and was delivering the things as per expat’s desire. Sushant’s ability to perform at high level put by putting his heart and soul without caring for working hours in completing tasks made him ignoring of following processes. Sushant did not enjoy reporting to Ravi or any other senior including Gopalan except operations head Mr. Takimoka.

Manufacturing head Gopalan was also not happy with sushant’s behaviour and attitude and he was getting repeated reports about his arrogant behaviour.  After listening to Ravi, he said, “need not to worry, don’t get upset, I will take care”.

Next day after morning meeting Gopalan   met MD where Mr. Takimoka was also sitting in his cabin.

Gopalan: sir, now enough is enough . We need to take call about sushant. His incidents of misbehaviour are increasing. Yesterday, he openly insulted and shouted on Ravi  in front office. He does not want to follow processes and systems. In last five years we have lost three DGMs.

MD kept listening  and saw towards Takimoka for a moment. “But Mr. Takimoka, You always gave very positive report about sushant? What I am listening? Don’t you think  we should do something  about this issue.”

Takimoka, sensing the gravity of matter, made an attempt to control the damages. He said , no issue, I will talk to sushant  and make him to apologise to Ravi and he will also improve about his behaviour. Leave it to me. I will handle. He then asked Gopalan to meet him in his cabin with Ravi to discuss and resolve the matter.
Before Gopalan  could take HR head into confidence and brief him about incidence, He saw a mail from sushant with copy to Takimoka, Ravi,  HR head and M.D. Following is the mail:

“Dear sir, Regarding yesterday Incident, I want to say that I was very much engaged in various jobs since last few days causing stress and during that state of mind I talked to Ravi sir. If something has hurt him, I feel sorry for that. I never intended to insult him. I have been giving  all my time with full devotion at the cost of my family and personal life to the company. No one should doubt my loyalty and commitment. I will try to improve upon my behaviour also.”

Gopalan gave a call to HR head and Ravi and requested them to come to his office immediately.  But, after reading sushant’s mail, Gopalan was thinking in different direction.

Questions for Discussion and Solutions

How do you interpret the personality traits of sushant? Was he a good manager?

Sushant may be good as a worker, as an individual lone contributor who by the sheer presence of his talent, skills, perseverance and hard work has worked his way up the ladder in his current manufacturing organisation. However Sushant should realize that talent and technical skills alone is not good enough. As one grows in the organisation and the number of years pass by, demands of the job and the organisation vary, they change. So one needs to adapt to it, develop themselves as per it. Repeatedly being in the same profile will not help.

Also by virtue of being in the same organisation for the past 12 years since the start of it, one tends to develop a laid back attitude and of being that in a comfort zone that nothing will happen to me as seen in the statement by Sushant to his boss Ravi that he has seen many bosses who have failed to control him and ultimately left the company. Sushant is also comforted by the fact in the back-end that he is the blue-eyed poster boy of Mr. Takimoka, Operations Head from Japan who had deep interference in operational activities of the Manufacturing Unit.

How do you underline the approach of Mr. Takimoka in this episode?

Mr. Takimoka took a conciliatory approach in this matter. Their Indian counterparts Mr. Ravi and Mr. Gopalan had decided to take the matter of Sushant hands on and had decided to confront him and also show to him as to who is the boss. However since the matter was reported to Mr. Takimoka who always had a positive report about Sushant and was impressed by his work decided to speak to Sushant alone, calm him down, maybe give him some guidance, tips on how to get along with everyone by improving his behavior including his seniors as it would be good for everyone in the organisation, it would be a win-win situation as compared to a confrontational approach.

However Mr. Takimoka knew that time was running out from him, Sushant’s matter had indeed become grave and there was not much he could do to control the damages as Mr. Gopalan the Manufacturing Head had reported that due to Sushant’s Behavior and inclination to not follow systems and processes, the organisation had lost 3 DGM’s in the last 5 years. It would be a matter of time that the organisation would have to let go of Sushant if he did not change or improve his behavior and look for a replacement. As ultimately, systems and processes are important, that define an organisation and not an individual.

How Manufacturing head Mr. Gopalan should handle this matter now?

Gopalan was going to take the HR head into confidence and was going to brief him about the incidence. However he saw an email from Sushant apologizing about the incidence that had happened and the underlying factors that led to it. Since the matter has come on record, on mail, Gopalan should still speak to the HR head about it including with Ravi and give their views also. Let the HR head then take a judicious call. Sushant’s mail should also be replied to. Since Sushant has apologized, everyone can move on but care should be taken that such instances do not repeat again
Sushant should be informed to improve his behavior and attitude. Maybe some sort of coaching and mentoring in behavioral attitude can help Sushant. Also since Sushant has said that he was engaged in various jobs for the past few days and was pursuing it passionately at the cost of his family and personal life, all his 3 seniors should have a meeting with him and see if he needs a helping hand so as to reduce his workload and thus work pressure. That will perhaps lead to Sushant being in a better frame of mind and thus in behavior also.

Should Ravi also change his functioning style keeping in view the prevailing relations dynamics?

No, I don’t think Ravi should change his functioning style keeping in view the prevailing relations dynamics. He was right in asking details directly from the Graduate Engineering Trainee (GET) when Sushant failed to provide it to him inspite of regular reminders. Ravi was also right in knowing as to what the reportees under him were going about doing their planning work and how are they going to deliver. As a boss, he has the right to know as to what his subordinates are up to. Ravi was also right in reminding Sushant how he had failed in his other duties of taking the AM along with him during visit to Tooling Vendors but did so alone. Ignoring your reporting authority’s instructions repeatedly is not a good sign of things to come and hence Ravi was right in his actions.

Sushant should learn to respect his seniors, his colleagues instead of confronting them verbally or by not following their instructions. If Sushant did not enjoy reporting to either Ravi or Gopalan, he should make it explicitly clear and try to work out a solution towards it. Either sit with them and tell to them what he sees are right or wrongs in their working relationship and also listen to their views and see if some amicable solution can be worked out. Else, Sushant can go for a change of profile or reporting authority.

Identify leadership competencies within team

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organization.And written by me is a recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager July 2017 edition  

Case Study - Dilemma at Infocom

Arun gazed wistfully at the picturesque view out of his window on the third floor of his Mangalore office. As the senior project manager at the Insurance Healthcare and Life Science division at Infocom Ltd, he hoped that the dark clouds were not an indicator of the times to come for his department. His meeting with Pradeep Shetty, the global division manager, had thrown up more questions than answers. Pradeep was not happy with the department’s recent performance and had expressed his displeasure quite openly. The stream of new projects from their main client, the US-based Insurance major Northwestern Mutual, had all but dried up. Even more worrying were the pressing conflicts within the sustainable support project groups.

Meenal Singh, a veteran with the most profitable project of his division had applied for a transfer. A programmer analyst and a team leader with Application Support in the past 4 years, she was well versed with the nuances of all the processes involved. Also, she was a brilliant team leader an always kept the morale of her team high. Having returned from a stint at the headquarters of Northwestern Mutual, Meenal had decided to get married and move base to Pune.

The support team that earned the bread and butter for Arun’s department consisted of two divisions: Application Support and Production Support. Meenal headed both the divisions. The members of the Application Support team consisted of Abhishek Singh, a software engineer with three years of experience. The senior most member of the team, Abhishek, had two years’ experience with a software start-up and had expected to be recruited at Infocom as a programmer analyst .Technically, Abhishek was almost as competent as Meenal and at the same time had also mastered the obscure insurance processes in a very short span of time. However, Abhishek lacked strong communication skills. Also, he was disgruntled with his role as a software engineer. Karan Ramakrishnan was another software engineer who had been involved in the project for quite some time. He had lesser total work experience than Abhishek and had been involved in the project for over a year. Karan was looking for a change from what he thought to be a mundane work of support and wanted desperately to get into a development project.

The other team members included Mukund Nair and Jathin Krishnan. Fresh recruits involved in the project for less than a year, they brought a lot of fresh blood and vitality into the Application Support team. Although quick learners, they were not mature enough to be put into positions of leadership of such a critical project so soon. Shilpa and Remy had just joined the company and were still in the induction phase.

Arun had decided on Mohan Kailash Gupta as the replacement for Meenal. Mohan had worked with the development team at the headquarters of Northwestern Mutual at Wisconsin. Although a software engineer with only two years of work experience, Mohan had shown tremendous technical competence on site. However, Arun was not so sure of how the Application Support team, particularly Abhishek, would take to this new leader. Meenal had been a very effective leader and maintained her relationship with the team even beyond the workplace, often taking them out for parties. Mohan, on the other hand, although very well versed with the system, was considered to be an introvert and not known to be a party animal. The interest and motivation levels of people involved with Application Support projects also seemed to wane quickly. People got bored quickly with the mundane support work involved and thus had to be kept motivated all the time.

Looming over Arun’s head like the proverbial sword of Damocles was also the newly started offshore support at Production Support. Production Support involved more of client interaction and consultation projects, while Application support primarily dealt with defect fixes. Although Production Support required a more in-depth understanding of the insurance processes involved and the system specific to Northwestern Mutual, the Client had insisted on appointing Shweta, a new recruit as a single-point offshore contact. Their rationale behind this demand was to have someone with a longer commitment to Production Support. Despite a slow initiation and a rigorous training programme, Shweta. Also, owing to health problems she was frequently absent from work.

Questions for discussions

1. How can you help Arun arrive at a decision that is beneficial for him as well as for Infocom?

2. What kind of decision-making strategies can be applied to solve the present problem?

3. Is there a possibility that Arun may revert to taking unethical decisions? How can he be                       prevented from doing so?

4. Will Shweta be a right choice in this present scenario? Why or Why not?

Case Study Analysis

The underlying solution to the dilemma at Infocom Ltd is absence of a process for preparing it's employees towards changing capability and capacity needs that will ensure smooth transition incase of need to help it in minimizing the impact in such a period. This is exactly the scenario that Arun as Senior Project Manager at the Insurance Healthcare and Life Science division at Infocom Division is facing.

Meenal Singh, who was heading the project as well as both the profitable divisions i.e. Application Support and Production Support had applied for transfer to Pune as she was getting married. Meenal also demonstrated good team management skills by keeping her team members engaged & motivated in work like taking them out for parties. Her replacement Mohan though technically competent was an introvert and hence not considered as suitable replacement. 

Other possible replacements for Meenal, Abhishek Singh, though equally competent, lacked strong communication skills that is essential when managing a team in a project management environment. Other incumbents like Karan, Mukund & Jathin lacked maturity & leadership skills for managing such critical projects. There were other possible candidates namely Shilpa & Remy, however they were in induction phase.

All these dilemma's also show the need for identifying Leadership Competencies within the team and necessary training. This is currently lacking right now resulting into this dilemma. If this were in place, perhaps the scenario would not have been that dim as currently faced by Arun and in his meeting with Pradeep Shetty, global division manager, that threw up more questions than answers.

This dilemma also shows lack of system of training employees in ensuring effective career progression path. A mechanism / matrix to help employees exceed performance expectations and address overall employee related strategic challenges like this one would support both the employees & the organization to go beyond minimum work performance related standards.

It is also to be noted that to add to the dilemma was the Project Client's demand to appoint Shweta, a new recruit as a single-point offshore contact. The reasoning behind their demand was to have someone with longer commitment to Production Support. Although Shweta was subject to a rigorous training programme w.r.t. future, she was found to be frequently absent from work due to health issues. Hence there is no question of Shweta being a right choice in the present scenario due to frequent absenteeism from work that will result in loss of productivity, problems for other employees & considering the criticality of project work nature.  

There are chances that Arun may revert to taking unethical decisions due to complex nature of the dilemma that he is facing with so many parties involved, due to not understanding the complexity of the issues and also due to external factors like client pressure and meeting their expectations like client request for appointing Shweta, lack of new projects from their main client Northwestern Mutual

Arun can be prevented by doing so in case of this dilemma is by first recognising if the request is unethical. If found so, he can buy time to do some research on it, speak to his company's HR or legal department for expert advise on determining the best course of action. Poor decision making in this case here can have a negative impact here in terms of resignations of employees that can affect the project as well 

Decoding the motivational issues

Below are fictionalized case studies that presents dilemma faced in real organizations. And written by me is the recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager Magazine June 2017 edition.

Here below are few situations wherein employees are engulfed with motivational issues. The situations describe the motivational problems of individual employees and of organizations as a whole. And written by me is the potential solution to each problem.

Issue No. 1 - Sarita Dewan is an engineer who has been working with a leading software company for the past 15 years. She is interested in a managerial post. Most engineers in managerial positions in the company have had some administrative experience as project directors before they were promoted. Although Sarita knows that she needs the administrative experience, she is reluctant to take on the responsibility as a project director because of the hassles in coordinating the activities of various functions.

Potential Solution - Sarita is working in her comfort zone in same position for the past 15 years in same company. So this implies that she is doing well in her current profile and company is satisfied with her performance. So Sarita's both physiological & security needs are satisfied as per Maslow's Need Hierarchy Model. At some point or the other in one's career life, an individual yearns for change or growth especially when the colleagues / peers around you are doing the same and one sees them progressing. However change and growth inadvertently comes with risks and that implies getting out your comfort zone. The risk factor involved may work (opportunity) or may not work (risk - effect of uncertainty). Incase of Sarita, additional responsibilities that come with promotion involve doing new things never done before which an employee after a certain period of time maybe reluctant to do so since the basic needs (physiological & security) are already satisfied. The suggested solution to this is to build confidence into the incumbent Sarita, get her to come out of insecurity. This can be further resolved by offering regular training and showing the bigger picture.

Issue No. 2 - The Infogem TV Manufacturing Company has been using a performance-based bonus system to boost employee productivity. Quarterly bonuses are paid to work group that exceed the quarterly performance goals stipulated by the company. The initial response to the incentive system was highly favorable with more than half the number of work group exceeding the performance goals. However, as time passed, the human resources department started receiving complaints from a number of supervisors about low morale and motivation among their team members.

Potential Solution - Many employees equate compensation with the important activities the organisation wants to achieve. For example, incase of Infogem TV Manufacturing Company, quarterly bonuses are paid to work groups that exceed the quarterly performance goals stipulated by the company. In this situation, everyone clearly understand the importance of performance bonus because their own compensation and rewards are tied to it. However, as time passed, the HR department started receiving complaints from a number of supervisors about low morale and motivation amongst their team members. Hence Infogem TV Manufacturing Company needs to evaluate its approach to employee performance, recognition and rewards to determine the extent to which the employees are satisfied with them, the extent of their participation, and the impact of the system on improved performance.

Issue No. 3 - Last years, Image Motor Company used a sales contest to motivate its sales staff to increase their sales revenue. Two salespersons were selected from each regional sales office for grand prizes. The first prize was an automobile and the second prize was an all-expenses-paid vacation to Manali. The company has decided to continue the programmed because of the positive response to the contest in the first year. Yet, regional sales managers indicate that their sales personnel are not as excited about the contest as they were in the first year. Very few are even talking about the contest.

Potential Solution - Although research indicates that the main elements / key drivers of employee motivation and engagement include being valued and involved, other factors that affect employee motivation and engagement can vary significantly from organization to organization or within an organization from site to site which is exactly the case with Image Motor Company. One size fits all approach will not work. The Company should differentiate its employee motivation and engagement methods amongst the different group of regional employees. Also employees will be motivated and engaged when the company also identifies and corrects a problem that adversely affects their motivation and engagement (dissatisfaction). Just having a sales contest to motivate the staff to increase revenue will not work. For employees it's not just about rewards. They would like their other day to day work related concerns to be addressed as well for them to remain motivated and committed to their work.

Issue No. 4 - Enigma Corporation is an engineering company that designs and constructs industrial facilities. Its main line of business involves oil refinery and coal-gasification facilities. The company’s business has increased substantially in recent years because of energy shortages around the world. Enigma recently hired a large number of engineers just out of school and some from other companies in order to meet the increased demand. The main attraction is financial; Enigma offers higher-than-average pay and fringe benefits. However, thought it attracts a large number of engineers, very few stay for more than 2 years. The president of the company is concerned about the attrition rate of the company.

Potential Solution - The solution to the problem lies in absence of a career progression plan. It is the responsibility of the Managers at Enigma Corporation to help the newly hired engineers with work related development, learning and career progression. Else they run the risk of weaking employee morale and motivation. This adversely impacts employability and consequently organization's ability to maintain a viable workforce to compete effectively. Career progression and worker development programs provide evidence to workers that they are valued by the organization and it's leaders. This, in turn, enhances employee engagement, which enhances productivity. Sometimes, it's not just about financial benefits attraction.

Issue No. 5 - You have recently become the chief operating officer (COO) of a telecommunications company. You are very keen to improve the diversity of your workforce; however, a master plan has to be developed to pursue this goal so as to have support from other groups in the organization. Until now, your organization has been very selective in terms of employing people. The previous COO was generally reluctant to employ women and people belonging to certain minority groups as he felt they would not be able to adjust in the company. As a result, very few women and employees from minority groups occupy top or middle management level positions in the organization.

Potential Solution - In a competitive industry such as telecom, inefficient recruitment and bureaucratic bungling in the hiring process also provides a glimpse of the true management system and can scare off the best prospective employees. In addition, the hiring process represents a terrific opportunity to attract and hire workers with diverse ideas and cultures, without which it will be difficult to capitalize on diverse ideas, cultures, and thinking. This is turn may limit the ability of the organization's workforce to be engaged, innovative and empowered. Productivity suffers, as does the organization's ability to meet the challenges of today's highly competitive environment. Senior Leader i.e. The chief operating officer (COO) has to build a work climate that addresses the needs of a diverse employee base. Recruitment and training are tools to enhance the work climate. Employees are cross-trained to prepare for changing capability and capacity needs. Cross-training, job sharing and rotational assignments promote a more engaged worker and make that worker more valuable to the organization. 

Issue No. 6 - Vikas owns two fast-food shops in a small town in Maharashtra. Each shop sells items such as burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, ice creams, milk shakes, and aerated soft drinks. He employs the local high school and college students to work for him as waiters. He pays his employees on an hourly basis. He has recently observed that they do not process customer orders as fast as they should and customers end up waiting a long time for the food. There is also variation in the quantity offered to customers, with some employees serving very generous portion while others serve very small portions especially while serving ice creams and drinks. Vikas wants to improve customer service and product consistency by changing the reward structure.

Potential Solution - In order to optimise performance, the employees that have been hired by Vikas must be aligned to the objective that he has in mind which is that of improving customer service and product consistency. Failure to do this forces the employees to decide for themselves, subsitute their own ideas instead of being driven / guided by their manager. Failure to provide rewards or recognition that support a customer focus may cause employees to behave as if customers are unimportant. Rewards (or the absence of them) drive behavior and motivate people to respond in certain ways. Recognition, and rewards/incentives could be provided for results, such as for reductions in waiting time for service to customers and for providing error-free services e.g. serving the right portoin of ice creams and drinks.  

CEO must walk the talk

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organizations. And written by me is the recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager Magazine May 2017 edition.

Case Study - What makes or break the organization culture?

Alpha Corporation is an organization that takes care of its employees in a number of ways. The company has initiated many steps to make things easier for the employees and to promote positive organizational behavior. On the transportation front, the company provides AC cab facilities to the staff to commute to the company. This service is provided free of cost. Among other free benefits, food is catered to the employees . Employees are strongly urged to work to complete their tasks during the scheduled working hours. All facilities are provided for people working overtime.

The senior management team closely interacts with junior team. Often managers come to the desk of employees with bouquets and organize small celebrations for employees on occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. This encourages informal interaction and teaches employees a lot about the culture of the organization. Festivals such a Holi and Diwali are celebrated with lunch or dinner parties.

The culture of the organization is open and non-hierarchical. Many members of the staff are so impressed with the culture and the management style of senior managers that they have made them their role models. This has gradually resulted in building harmony in the organization. The regular interactions between senior management and employees enable younger employees to adapt to the organization much faster. They are given all possible opportunities to seek opinions and explanations from the senior management about any doubts that they might have.

There are regular training programs in the company. The training programs are on different aspects such as behavioral training, technical training, and domain-specific training. This contributes towards the overall development of the employees along with development in their technical skill. This also helps in making employees more congruent with the company policies and objectives.

The reward and recognition programs at the company are based on merit. The pay structures as well as the extra rewards are given on the basis of performance in different projects. The compensation offered by the company is competitive though not the highest in the industry. Employees are recognized for the work that they do during regular summits in order to honour leading performers.

The offsite programs for employees are arranged team-wise, business unit-wise, and pan-company wise. The general atmosphere in the company is that of stability and calm, and is conductive to learning and improvement. It has a great brand name internationally and maintains the same working conditions and policies for its employees in India.

Although the organization promotes positive behavior among its employees through various initiatives, there are some issues which need to be tackled. First, as a result of the free culture, the level of competition that can drive employees to greater success is lacking. Also compared with its peers, the organization does not provide fast career growth to employees, which may discourage and frustrate ambitious employees. As most of the organization’s systems are set and structured, there is limited scope for feedback and change. Also, as the organization is relatively large, it does not promote an entrepreneurial mindset in its employees, and takes fewer risks.

As projects are assigned arbitrarily to teams, some teams get to work on more challenging and exciting projects than others. This creates feeling of discontentment, irritation, and resentment in employees who are assigned less exciting projects. As employees are used to working only until 5:30 p.m, some of them are unwilling to put in longer hours when a larger project or assignment is due. As the organization tries to promote stability, it is also soft on all employees-including incompetent and unmotivated employees. Thus, the organization has to support more than its fair share of “deadwoods”, which affects and hampers the productivity of other employees.

Although the company sponsors several festivals, celebrations, and contests, participation is limited to a few enthusiastic employees. Finally, despite several fine initiatives, several employees are dissatisfied with their monetary compensation. Thus, this may be the primary reason why many employees are always on the lookout for an opportunity to quit the organization.

A few interesting trends were observed in the organization over the past few years. According to a survey conducted, most employees admired the organization and its values. Most employees who quit the organization did so within two years of joining, and were generally new graduates. Employees, who quit when at mid-management level are highly sought after and get attractive offers in leadership roles within the industry. Among the older employees, many have spent their entire career comprising more than 20-30 years in the organization. The top management comprises of a large percentage of women and non-resident Indians based in the United States.

Questions for Discussions and Solutions

1. How would you classify this organisation on cultural parameters?

The culture of Alpha Corporation seems to be that of family owned & managed based on traditional relationship value. This is evident from various examples like open & non-hierarchical culture, company wide celebration of festivals such as Holi & Diwali with Lunch & Dinner Parties, provision of employee facilities like AC cab for commuting, food, urging employees to complete work during office hours only, etc...

The culture of Alpha Corporation can also be viewed as not so professionally managed & maybe equated to that a start-up culture given by the fact that compensation though competitive is not as per industry standards leading to employee dissatisfaction and ultimately leading them to quit for better prospects. Most employees who quit the organisation do so within 2 years of joining & are generally new graduates. So Alpha Corporation can be deemed as Training Institute for Freshers or from where competitor companies can pick up skilled and trained employees ready to perform on the job from Day 1. No training investment required by them.

It also seems that all the employees seem to be working in their comfort zone and there is no competitive pressure on them to perform and sustain their positions. This is evident from older employees having spent their entire 20-30 years career or employees not used to working beyond office hours or putting in longer hours when a large project or assignment demands so. Alpha Corporation in its endeavor to promote culture of stability and care for the employees makes do with incompetent and unmotivated employees and supports dead woods, doesn't take any performance based action against them.

2. Identify the initiatives taken by the organisation to promote its strong culture

Alpha Corporation has undertaken many initiatives to promote its strong culture. This includes provision of free AC cab facilities for employees for commutation, food provision, facilities for working overtime. Senior management participates with junior team for celebrating occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries thus encouraging informal interaction. Lunch & Dinner parties are organised for major festivals such as Diwali. Thus Alpha Corporation has various employee engagement activities in place.

Due to open and non-hierarchical work culture, senior managers serve as role models for juniors and newcomers in the organisation. Juniors are free to seek opinions and explanations from seniors for any doubts that they might have without any hesitation. This has also resulted in younger employees adapting to the organisation work culture and its procedures much faster. This has also resulted in building harmony amongst the employees in the organisation.

Structured training programs exist in the company on different aspects such as behavioral, technical and domain-specific. This helps them to develop their competencies and also make them more aware of company's policies and objectives. 

Alpha Corporation also has various reward and recognition programs. Employees are recognized for the work that they do and leading performers are honored. 

3. What are the problems encountered by this organisation?

Alpha Corporation in its endeavor to be an open and non-hierarchical organisation and promote traditional values like culture of caring & harmony amongst its employees, firstly faces the challenge of retaining skilled, ambitious, enthusiastic, professional and career growth oriented employees who would like to move up the career ladder. Attrition is an issue in the organisation.

Also due to cultural issues, employees do not seem to strive to work hard or put in extra efforts in their work when it is required of them. They are used to fix working hours. Employees are used to work in a routine and do not wish to go beyond it.

Also due to non-professional and non-competitive work culture wherein employee performance is not reviewed regularly and feedback given, the company supports incompetent and unmotivated employees (deadwoods). This in turn affects and hampers the productivity of other employees. They in turn get demoralised, disconnected & disengaged with the organisation. One issue leads to another. The company though it sponsors festivals, celebrations and contests, only few regular & enthusiastic employees participate in it.

4. If you were the CEO of this organisation, how would you bring about a positive culture in the organisation

The culture at Alpha Corporation is in need of a revamp. And this can only happen when it's driven from the top, when it's leadership driven. 

The CEO must walk the talk in leading systematic performance improvement throughout Alpha Corporation. This can be done by carrying out many visible activities like setting goals, planning, recognizing & rewarding performance. A significant portion of the time of CEO has to be spent in performance improvement activities if a positive culture change has to be brought about.

Job definitions with performance targets must be clearly delineated for each level of the organisation, objectively measured, and presented in a logical and organised structure. Systems and procedures must be deployed that encourage cooperation and a cross functional approach to management, team activities, and problem solving. Actions must be taken to assist those employees that are not meeting their goals or performing to plan.

Promote the concept of cross-training and job rotation. Cross-training, job sharing, and rotational assignments promote a more engaged employee and makes that employee more valuable to the organisation.

Assessment of employee satisfaction & engagement. Although Alpha Corporation claims to have many employee engagement initiatives in place, a systematic process must be deployed to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and extent of employee satisfaction & engagement initiatives. Consistent and prompt action must be taken to improve conditions identified through these surveys.

To bring change, reinforce trust amongst the employees

Below is a fictionalized case study that presents dilemma faced in real organizations. And written by me is the recommended solution to the problem. This has been published in Business Manager Magazine April 2017 edition.

Case Study- Change For better but how?

1991 ushered in a new era for Sea Side, the email order retailing agent. The company with a turnover of over a billion rupees was growing faster than ever before and was no longer the small, home-grown catalogue store. Located in south Kolkata, its 5,000 employees adhered to its culture and its management practices as well as the philosophy of its founder and chairman, Shantanu Das, “Take care of your people, take care of your customer, and the rest will take care of itself.” In 1991, Das decided that the company needed to apply modern management practices to keep up with its growing size and complexity.

The first step was the recruitment of a new executive vice president from competitor Mountain View, Subodh Marwah to lead the changes. Marwah quickly made numerous changes to modernize the management systems and processes  including team-based management,  training programs for trainees at all levels, a new multi-rater evaluation system in which managers were rated by peers and subordinates as well as their supervisors  and the use of numerous consultants to provide advice. The company reworked on its mission to provide excellent products and services and to turn every customer into a friend. In addition, the company entered into a new international venture and a new business segment each year, resulting in solid businesses in the UK, Japan and Germany. Marwah was promoted as the chief executive officer in 1993. In the continuation of the modernization efforts, he hired seven new vice presidents, including Ankit Verma as the new vice president of human resources to oversee all the changes in the employee arena. In the first two years, the changes seemed to be working as the company added 100 million rupees to its revenues and posted record profits.

However, all was not as rosy as the profit picture seemed to show. In spite of the many programs aimed at employee welfare, training and team building, many employees complained of always having to meet production and sales targets. The new employee performance evaluation system resulted in numerical rating which seemed to depersonalize relationships. No matter how many pieces she monogrammed per day, one employee felt that her work was never appreciated. Other employees complained of too many meetings necessitated by the reorganization and the cross-functional teams. One team of catalogue artists, buyers, and copywriters needed numerous meetings each week to coordinate their activities. A quality assurance manager complained that his work week had increased from 40 to 55 hours and that the meetings were taking time away from his real job. Many employees complained that they did not need to go to training programs to learn how to take care of customers and communicate when they had been doing that all along.

The doubts grew until late 1994, when the board led by Das decided that the new management was moving the company too far too fast and moving far away from the basic philosophies that made the company successful. On 2 December 1994  Das and the Vice Chairman Nikhil Rao asked for Marwah’s resignation and fired Verma citing lack of confidence in the direction the company was heading under the present management and the need to return to the company’s basic philosophy.

Mr. Das then chose 34-year-old Vikash Sen as the Chief executive officer to steer the company. Sen and 11-year veteran of Sea Side (his entire working career), immediately started the about-face by dismantling most of the terms, reorganizing the others and returning to focus on what the company excelled at previously-top-quality classic clothes and excellent customer service. Three other executives left the company shortly after Sen’s appointment.

Shortly after his takeover, however, paper prices doubled, postal rates increased, and the demand for clothing dropped sharply and profits for the third-quarter dropped by 60% as the year ended, overall profits were down to 30.6 million rupees on barely Rs 1 billion in sales and Sen had to cancel a mail order to save money. Rather than cutting quality and laying off people, Sen spent even more on increasing quality and employees benefit, such as adoption assistance and mental health referrals. His philosophy was that customers still demand quality products and those employees who feel squeezed by the company will not provide good customer service. Early results were positive, with the company’s first-quarter producing profits three times as those produced the previous year.

Critics of Mr. Sen’s return to basic philosophy argue that the modernization attempts were necessary to position the company for global competition and faster reaction to competition in several of its catalogue lines. Its return to growth occurred primarily in acquisition and new special catalogue lines and not in the main catalogue for which it was so famous. Mr. Sen has put further acquisition and global expansion on hold as he concentrates on the core businesses. Employees say that they have fewer meetings and more time to do their work.

Case Analysis - To bring change, reinforce trust amongst the employees

Questions for discussions and solutions

1. How would you characterize the two sets of changes made at Sea? Which set of change is really modernization?

The first change process initiated by Executive VP Subodh Marwah should be perceived as modernization. He made numerous changes to modernize the management systems and processes through a slew of measures including reworking on company’s mission statement, new international ventures and markets. He even recruited a new team to give him new ideas and perspectives to support the growth plans. All of this showed in the results as the company added 100 million rupees to it’s revenues and posted record profits. 

However it seems that the employees weren’t able to keep pace with the rapid growth rate of Sea Side. Obviously when the company is undergoing change and transformation and focus is on growth and results, performance measures and accountability will be in place. There will be targets to meet. It seems that the employees were not prepared for this rapid change management process that was happening and could not keep up pace with it. This resulted into them being unhappy with the current scenario at work and thus disengaged. They started complaining like increase in work hours, unproductive meetings, lack of appreciation at work, etc…

The board led by Shantanu Das saw that the company was moving away from it’s core philosophy of taking care of it’s employees and customers. So they asked Subodh Marwah to resign and fired       VP – HR Verma citing lack of confidence in the direction the company was heading and need to return to company’s basic philosophy.

The Board hired a new chief executive Vikash Sen who immediately began dismantling and               reorganizing most of what the previous team had done and focusing on past excellence history of the company i.e. quality classic clothes and excellence in customer service. However much to his and company’s dismay, things did not work out as planned as raw material and production costs increased and there was seen drop in profits. The company had to cancel a mail order to save money. Sen was seen even spending more on increasing quality and employee benefits even though business performance was dismal. Eventually Sen had to put further acquisition and global expansion on hold.

It seems that there was no planned strategy in place by Sen. He was just following the mandate given to him by the board of returning to the company's basic philosophy. It is fine that one should stick to it's core value or philosophy of what it is good at but this should be regularly revisited in tune with the changing internal & external business environment or context or issues. And based on review results, can then decide to continue doing as usual or fine tune or modify where necessary. One cannot keep on doing the same things repeatedly and expect to grow. There needs to be change however it should be in a planned and systemic manner and it should be given time. Don't expect immediate results. Change takes time.

2. How did the change processes differ?

The first change process initiated by Marwah failed to understand properly the needs and expectations of important stakeholder groups like the Board headed by Das and key employee concerns. If that were in place as a preventive action measure in terms of what is likely to go wrong if not addressed or fulfilled, then the resultant reactive measures that occurred later could have been nullified or reduced to some extent. Example – employee grievance like increase in number of working hours or meetings, unhappiness with the performance rating system, board unhappy with new functioning style or pace at which rapid transformation was taking place, etc....

Also it needs to be pondered as to whether the leaders understood as to what is expected of them as leaders of organizational change and making sure that their actions and words support the change     management initiative.

The next round of change process set off by Sen was typical that of a new person in helm of affairs would do things his way or follow instructions of his boss just because the earlier person failed to live up to expectations and causes disarray in the organization. He went about dismantling, reorganizing things set in motion by his predecessors and bringing in his own viewpoints which he felt will bring in the desired results that the company wanted in first place itself. Sen should have instead used the     opportunity given to him firstly to realise as to what exactly went wrong, there should have been       learnings from past wrongs or mistakes and that should have been utilised as an opportunity to set things right the next time around. There should have been organizational learning in place especially after a disastrous first attempt that failed badly.

3. How do you think employees will view future attempts to implement change at Sea Side?

Employees will think that continuous change is not important. It will not be taken seriously. Employees will think that all this will keep on happening at top level. We just keep on continuing with our daily routine work as usual. This also implies that any major announcement by the top leadership at Sea Side will not be viewed in the usual serious manner as it should have perceived to be. Because employees cannot see continuity in what is  being said and what is happening in reality or in actual practice. 

An organization's success depends increasingly on an engaged workforce that benefits from meaningful work, clear organizational direction, and performance accountability and that has a safe, trusting and cooperative environment. By asking the CEO to resign and firing VP HR citing lack of confidence in direction in which the company was headed, employees down the line will begin to ponder as to what exactly is happening in the organization. Where is it headed? What is its future? Do they also have a safe and secure future career in the organization or should they also be looking at other opportunities. The rumblings at the top level will undoubtedly have a cascading effect down the line as is seen by three other executives also leaving shortly. 

All in all the employees will not view seriously the change management attempts at Sea unless it is leadership top driven and there is stability and continuity in the initiatives. Also everyone's views must be taken into account and there must be involvement of all stakeholders concerned.