CASE STUDY

Darting Performances,
Ignoring Values
Businesses managed by owners/promoters carry values and
systems that are in fact endorsed and practiced by the promoters
themselves. Therefore, a lot of HR functions get decided through
intuition, ignoring aspects that the functions actually warrant.
This, apart from creating a confusion of sorts for the HR
manager, also makes room to brew a feeling of ill will and
resentment among the employees.

- BY DR. ANAMIKA SINHA AND NARAYAN ARUNACHALAM

D
arious Pvt. Ltd. is a marketing
firm that provides business
related information through
an online platform and assists
organizations with integrated workflow
solutions. Operating from its head office
in India, it catered to clients located in
the UK and the US.
Established in 2010 by Tapan
Majumdar, a businessman, the initial
service preposition of the firm was to
provide reliable, consistent, and
objective credit information. By the
end of 2016, the company, by way of
leveraging the available technology,
boasted of a wide range of services that
it could make available. The services
range offered were, providing leads,
data on more than 40,000 companies,
in more than 200 industries. The
diversity of industries being catered to,
and, the uniqueness of the clients made
the business very dynamic, and,
warranted the concerned teams to be
constantly on their toes. The business
was impacted by the VUCA- ness of the
clients' business decisions, as well as
the changes in the industry. The firm
also built business insights and leads

54 N July 2017 www.humancapitalonline.com


on the basis of raw data and data
analysis that helped its clients to
synergize their operations and
accelerate sales. Being a niche service
provider, the company employed
Management graduates with
experience and focus on data mining,
analysis and interpretation skills. The
employees were expected to link the
data generated into meaningful reports
for the clients. The total employee
strength was about 400 people across
all management levels.
Being a promoter driven company,
the culture in the organization was
informal with very little defined
processes; particularly people related
processes. In 2015, the company hired
a Human Resource Manager who
started putting systems and processes
to ensure standard people practices
across the organization. The
intervention included the setting up of
a formal performance appraisal and
management process.
Dynamic and enterprising guy that
he was, the HR Manager used the
templates and processes from his
erstwhile organization in the ITES space.
He had the experience of implementing
the systems there, and, used them as a
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CASE STUDY
benchmark/template to set up systems
at Darious.
However, some of these HR
interventions received little support
from the top management. At a very
explicit level, the owners promoted the
cause of setting up the processes, while,
at a tacit level, were also opposed to
them. Often, the promoter and the top
leaders expressed their intent to
institutionalize people related
processes, but, were not very keen and
supportive when it came to the
implementation of these processes over
apprehensions that it would make them
lose their control and influence. The
Manager also lacked the skills required
to navigate through the formal and the
informal channels to understand the
organizational dynamics and get things
done. As a result, the promoter
continued to be the core and sole lead
in the organization, and, found it Dr. Anamika Sinha is the Associate
difficult to submit himself to the Professor at Goa Institute of
organizational processes established by Management. She is also a trainer and
the HR manager. an HR consultant in a freelancing
In many cases, the owner-promoter capacity.
had access to the employees through
his social network, and, the information
informally gathered by him was used
while making formal official decisions.
The promoter himself often disregarded
many practices on the pretext that the
client demands superseded all the other
mandates, making the job of the HR
manager even more difficult. In a recent
discussion, where the HR manager had
posted out one of the members in a
department as a punitive measure; the
owners reverted the decision quoting
the clients' preference for that
employee in handling the account.
The promoter was the key decision
maker and the communication flow in
the company was neither organized nor
broad based, because of which, the
strategic vision and goals of the
company never reached the employees,
barring a select few, who were close to
the promoter, not because they were
seniors, but, since they were his "yes
"men. Often, the HR manager was the
last person to know of the strategic
moves taken by the members of the "top
coterie". There was always an overlap
between the social and professional
communication channels, and, very few Narayan Arunachalam is the Chief
employees used these channels People Officer at DMW Group, Tamil Nadu.
interchangeably to get the promoter's He has worked in senior positions in
attention. This encouraged nepotism leading organizations such as Airtel and
and favouritism, and, led to a lack of Wipro
July 2017 N 55
CASE STUDY
ownership and a feeling of non-
inclusive amongst the employees.
When it came to setting up the
functional and the individuals goals at
the beginning of the year, managers did
not take it very seriously stating that by
the time they documented those goals,
the organizational goals would have
moved in a different direction. In the
wake of new focus and strategy changes
every six months, they did not feel like
suggesting a goal post when they knew
that the dynamism of the client will
change that entire goal post within 4-
6 months. Most managers also found
it difficult to have meaningful dialogues
with their team members during the
periodic feedback sessions. As mutually
agreed targets remained on sheets of
paper, the managers themselves had
asked their subordinates to shelf the
priorities listed on MATS, and, focus on
other areas which were more critical.
The process for goal setting was that
they were a repetition of the previous
year, and, did not reflect or represent
organizational objectives or the
dynamism of the industry. Thus, the
goals aimed at were either too high or
low, and, were never close to reality or
any objectivity attached to it. Further,
there was no interim or mid-year
renegotiation process for goal
realignments.
The Promoter felt that the challenge
was with the very design of the PMS
process. He felt that the managers
could not visualise the goals for the
coming year, most were unsure about
the futuristic direction of the firm, and,
56 N July 2017
waited for his direction on the process.
Whereas, the managers complained
that the business building and strategic
envisioning was exclusively done by the
promoters without due consultation
with the junior managers, leaving them
clueless about future projections.
Communication was also a major
challenge. Most Managers were unable
to hold a good conversation on PMS
with their team members, or, even with
the promoter to clarify their /team
roles.
Few managers were aware about
this desync (in terms of dynamism of
strategic visioning and misalignment of
individuals in the vision) but, they
avoided a dialogue fearing that these
dialogues or feedbacks may not be
encouraged by the promoter. At the
time of the annual feedback session,
the managers struggled to have an
objective conversation with their team
members. In the absence of proper
training, and, objectivity in the goals
setting process, either it was a bad
conversation or none.
During the performance appraisal
process, the Managers often resorted
to forced ranking of their team
members, thus making the process
redundant. Ratings were given more
on the basis of perceptions and
impression management skills, rather
than their actual delivery. Team
members were force fitted either to the
right or to the left of the bell, depending
on their equations with the rater. If an
employee confronted the manager on
a concrete feedback, a typical
conversation would flow as under: -
Manager: Hi. Raj... it's another year
and another feedback session. Come
and sit, let's complete the formality.
Raj: Hi Sir. I don't want to treat this
as a formality Sir, I really want to have
a meaningful feedback about my
performance, as I feel that I have done
well in the last year and delivered on all
my Key Result Areas.
Manager: It's all ok yaar... that you
are supposed to do/ deliver. But I do
not see any tangible improvement in
your performance. What is the "value"
that you have generated for the
company?
Raj: Sir, that's too generic a
comment. I have all the records and
data to show what I have done. The
MATS agreed upon and delivered on. I
have the Client's feed-back score as
well, which is one of the best in our
company. I have worked day and night
and did not even take any vacation. I
was expecting a good increment,
instead of the increment you are instead
giving me an average rating.
Manager: It's all ok Raj Anyway,
according to me, your performance is
average and I can't rate you more than
this.
Raj: Sir, that's unfair
Manager: Don't be rebellious. This
is the way things are done here. This
righteous approach is not going to
work with me. Be happy with the rating
given to you. Think of the benefit that
you get here. You have coffee every
hour and sit in a posh AC room. How
many managers of your stature get the
benefit that you get?
And, then the dialogues would lead
to endless vitiating comments on each
other. Undeniably, the attrition in the
firm was high and the frustration and
stress levels were even higher. To an
outsider, the entire PMS and HR
processes remained a puzzle. And, at
the end of the year, the HR manager,
who was largely required to influence
things around him remained perplexed
on the next steps, the changes required
in the PMS system, and, the training
required for the managers, including
the owners to dynamically realign the
goals, and, simultaneously
communicate with the juniors, and, the
interventions that were needed to
improve the culture, the
communication patterns, and, the PMS
process.
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Analysis By Arpita Kuila
D
arious Pvt. Ltd. would indeed
be an interesting puzzle for
an outsider looking inwards.
Here was a company whose
leadership said that it wanted to
implement people related processes.
And, here was an HR manager who
was keen to enable the company to do
so. However, nothing seemed to be
working!
Intentions as they say are one thing,
however, not everyone wants to really
act upon their intentions. Changes are
a consequence of acting upon one's
intentions. The fallout of the same are
sometimes not quite what one might
have expected, and, we see that playing
out in this case. Darious was a
promoter driven company. The
culture from the inception of the firm
in 2010 had been informal with no
defined processes being adopted. It
was only in 2015 that the company
hired a HR manager. Hence, five years
had already lapsed and an informal
culture had been embedded in the
work ethos.
When the HR manager took on
the mandate of establishing people
processes, he also worked on setting
up a formal performance appraisal
process. The promoter and the top
leaders of the company expressed
their intent to have people related
processes and systems in place.
However in reality, they did not really
desire its successful implementation,
since they feared that this would result
in them losing their power, control
and influence.
This was a change management
exercise, and, an HR manager stepping
into such an environment was initially
required to convince all the
stakeholders about the need to ensure
structured systems and processes in
place. He needed their buy-in before
rolling anything out. He went about
using templates and processes from
his previous organization- an ITES
company. On the other hand, he
should have carried out an assessment
of the requirements of the current
organization, and, what would work
in the context of this organization.
Best practices could have been
adopted through his past knowledge,
but, should have been customised and
adapted to suit the present business
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CASE STUDY
environment.
While developing a performance
management system for a company
where the business leaders felt that
the focus and strategy would shift
every six months, the goal-setting and
performance appraisal cycles could
have been designed as half-yearly,
rather than annual. This would allow
for discussions regarding goals and
realignment where needed.
When rolling out a new process
like a performance management
system everyone in the organization
is required to undergo training. This
is the first step that the HR manager
had to put in place. This would have
ensured a common understanding
across everyone in the organization,
their role, how to go about an
appraisal and a goal-setting
discussion. There are bound to be
teething troubles when such an
initiative is rolled out for the first time, Arpita Kuila is Head - Human
and, an extensive communication Resources, NEC India Pvt. Ltd. She has
from the HR would have ensured that an experience of over 16 years of
this could have been eased by a large
extensive work and has held senior
extent. Given the communication
positions in diverse corporations such
challenges that managers and leaders
encountered while conducting as IMRB International, Genpact, and
appraisal discussions, it is vital to have Infosys Technologies Limited. Arpita is a
them trained on how to go about it in Post Graduate in English Honours from
an effective manner. Without adequate Jadavpur University and has a Masters
training over the ways of doing it, they Degree in Human Development from
would continue to fumble, and, this National Institute of Human
would have a negative consequence Development.
with everyone disliking the process of
performance appraisal. The
conversation between Raj and his
manager is a classic example to this- could have been started to improve
a complete failure in terms of a communication within the
discussion, and it is little wonder that organization, and, this would have
the company ended up with high helped information flow, rather than
attrition. it being restricted to the promoter's
Given that the promoter was the coterie. Navigating formal and
key decision maker in the company, it informal channels in an organization
was important for the HR manager to is a skill that HR needs to have. It
gain his trust and show him the gives a clearer understanding of
effectiveness and the long-term people, and, what is happening on the
benefits that such interventions could ground within an organization. If this
provide. Employees in a company like is not tapped, then HR would be the
Darious were key to its success. He last person to get to know of an
also needed to build a rapport with internal development.
top leaders in the company, and, show With better assessment of what would
the positive effects of having certain actually suit the company, a clear buy-
people related processes in place and in from the promoter and the
following them. This would have leadership and designing systems and
created a momentum from the top, processes. Keeping all these in mind,
and, helped in bringing about a and, better communication methods,
culture change. would result in the success story for
Regular town halls, newsletter etc. both HR and the organization.
July 2017 N 57
CASE STUDY
Analysis By Meher Sarid
O
ne must think about the
changes an HR person wants
to bring to the organization as
a value add, to change the
management thought process into
actionable items, and, transforming
from being driven as an owner driven
company to a process oriented
organization. The fundamental goal of
performance management is to
promote and improve employee
effectiveness. It is a continuous process
where business owners, senior leaders,
managers and junior employees work
in tandem towards the vision or the
business goals of the company. Starting
with a systematic approach to plan,
monitor, and, review an employee's
work objectives or goals, and, his or
her overall contribution to the
organization.
The HR manager failed to gain
Meher Sarid is the Group President -
Corporate Affairs, Marketing and HR,
Oxigen Services. She brings with her 24
years of rich experience and has
previously worked in ITC Maurya Sheraton
Hotel and Cathay Pacific. She has a PG
in International Hospitality, Event
Management and Banquet Dcor design
at Les Roches, Salzburg, and a Diploma
from Institute of Hotel Management,
Catering and Applied Nutrition.
58 N July 2017
confidence and build a relationship
with both the owner of the company
and the managers across levels. While
designing the PMS besides the
templatization, and, basis his past
experiences, he should have made
attempts to understand the existing
gaps, and, thence, define the culture.
He should have worked with the other
managers and seniors to gain insights
to identify these gaps. These insights
would have helped him to design a
programme / strategy to bridge those
gaps, after he was given a sign off from
the promoter. In the process, he would
have also been able to build a feeling
of familiarity with the workforce, thus
making it easier to drive home the
owner's vision.
When we principally look at an
average through the lens of
organizational size (employee
strength), we find that the importance
of measuring individual contribution
is much higher in smaller organizations,
and, this usually decreases with size.
This is because of the visibility of the
individuals, as well as their impact on
the business, which is much higher in
smaller organizations. Taking such
business realities into account while
identifying the objectives for
performance management systems
could be something that allows
companies of such a size to enjoy
effectiveness of higher perception.
Companies, across sizes, must look at
objectives that are better linked to
business realities such as recognition
of team contributions.
While deciding to let go one of the
employees, it is obvious that the HR
lead had not taken the leadership into
confidence. Had he done that, he
would have saved himself from getting
undermined, and, could have also
placed an alternative action for
improvement in performance and
behaviour.
The promoter/owner must have
had an agenda in mind when he
brought in an HR person on board.
The agenda would have been to have
an improved organization culture,
better performance management
systems, and, to build good HR
practices. The owner should have
briefed the HR person of his own
vision, the dynamism of his business,
and, given him with a feel of his style
of working.
The HR person should have
understood these, and, then assessed
the culture of this organization. Post
assessment, he should have presented
a plan to the promoter, to have a buy
in. There was little or no support from
the leadership for the interventions
implemented by the HR personnel, and
hence, the change was simply invisible.
It is said that the promoter was
unaware over the ways of
implementing goal setting, and, the
repetition of the previous year's goals
was ample proof. Businesses cannot
grow in such a manner, and, the
promoter should have indicated the
increasing targets year over year, with
increasing revenues.
Being a company of 400 people
with a significant number in junior
management working on data and
analysis, there can be no doubt that
the employees understood the
importance of numbers and related
efforts as desirous. The critical piece is
the collaboration of a job design and
support matrix. Some of the best
companies fail to provide this. If they
had 200 clients and 400 employees, the
work - resource ratio too must be
looked at.
Leaders must attempt to foster an
atmosphere where people bear a deep
commitment, not only towards the
corporate / business goals, but, also
towards helping one another. This can
be difficult to attain, because this
means creating a culture where people
feel a shared sense of purpose, where
teams identify with the group, leads
have trust in co-workers, and, an equal
share in rewards.
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Analysis By Vinod Yadav
T
he diversity of the industries
being catered to, and, the
uniqueness of the clients made
the business very dynamic and
needed the team to be constantly on
their toes. It is quite evident from the
profile that the company was operating
in a highly competitive business
environment. Following interventions
are outlined to make Darious Pvt. Ltd.,
a future proof organization to drive
performance.
Development of People
Processes, Systems and
Business Analytics
As mentioned, the company has hardly
any system and process in place to
cater to the growth and development
of its people or organization. It needs
to heavily deploy technological tools
to develop business analytics to service
the customer base based out of UK
and the US. Since the company is
dealing with intelligent data covering
the needs of various employees, it
is quite pertinent to move
to digital platforms which enhances
business performance.
Management Support
Management support is vital for the
success of any OD intervention in any
organization. Initiatives have been
taken by the HR Manager to build
processes and systems, but the
management's unwillingness has led to
its failure. Mahatma Gandhi once said
"Be the change you want to see in
others". In the context of the
organization, management must live
the change management initiatives to
help HR in gaining the buy in of
employees. Empirical data shows that
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CASE STUDY
initiatives when embraced and
communicated well by the
management prove to be a great
success, and, that is the need of the
hour at Darious.
Delegation of Authority (DoA)
It is high time for the company to
focus on defining the delegation of
authority for various business
processes. At times, employees have
no clue as to who to seek decisions
from. Lack of decision making at an
appropriate time is hampering the
business and people's outcomes. A
well-crafted delegation of authority
empowers the management and the
employees in providing decisions
seamlessly.
Formal Communication
Channels
As can be learnt from the case study,
there are no formal communication
Vinod Yadav is the HR Business
channels in the organization through
which management can reach out to Partner at Reliance Industries. He
employees to convey management carries an experience of ten years in
decisions, and, to get to know the multiple business units/locations in
inputs/insights of employees to make different roles/profiles. He is a Post
important organizational changes. Graduate in Human Resources
Making business decisions basis the Management from Tata Institute of Social
information obtained from the social Sciences, Mumbai.
network is fundamentally wrong, and,
can lead to catastrophe in the
organization. Initiatives such as Town
halls, site visits, management webcast business dynamics and expectations to
and corporate communications should make changes in key deliverables.
be in place for channelling authentic Frequent candid feedback
information and vice-versa. conversations between the employees
and the managers are important
Designing a Robust PMS elements of any PMS tools.
Framework Management can think of introducing
A robust PMS framework goes a long 'Quarterly Feedback Conversation' to
way in aligning people with its business track the progress of the employees
objectives. At Darious, there is and to create enablers to bridge the
absolutely no way to measure the gap in performance. 'Quarterly
employees' performance. There is a Feedback Conversation' is the need of
great disconnect between the the hour, because no realignment of
employees and the managers with business goals happens in the company
respect to performance expectations. once the PMS goals are set at the
Ad hoc practices such as providing beginning of the year. Feedback
forced average ratings to the conversation is more of a yearly ritual
employees, in spite toiling hard, filling in the company to communicate a pre-
repeated performance goals should be decided forced rating. OD interventions
abolished with immediate effect. suggested above with the support of
In light of the business the management will definitely change
environment, volatile market the landscape of business performance
conditions, and, adherence to business of the company. An online PMS tool
goals by the employees on a real-time will help bring transparency in the
basis, an online PMS tool should be system, and, empower its employees
implemented to cater to the changing to scale greater heights.
July 2017 N 59