Today Tata Consultancy Services is not only the leading IT solutions provider in India but also one of the leading companies worldwide in its field. However, we will analyze its performance back in 1998 when the company was faced with many operational problems which were becoming an impediment to its lofty ambitions. We start off our discussion with an investigation of the problems at TCS. The five problems identified were Lack of innovation and investment in research and development, lack of specialization among the workforce, lack of innovation among the employees, absence of a team based structure, ineffective reward systems and lack of attention towards promoting a better public image of the company. These problems were identified after a series of surveys and questionnaires. Surveys were designed for the employees, the graduating students of top notch institutions and the potential clients of an IT solutions company. The data collected from the interview will enable us to frame interview questions since we will then be well averse with problems. In the interviews we will ask the middle managers and policy makers of the organization of how they wish to address the issues at hand Since the problems are of an operational nature and directly concern the human resource department, we would also be interviewing the head of this department.
The OD intervention techniques which were used were modifying the reward system to encourage team based work, implementation of the new system and education of the employees for use of this system. Workshops related to improving communication among employees and activities to improve leadership potential and increase confidence among the employees. The effectiveness of the intervention techniques is measured with the use of surveys which are conducted both before the implementation of the OD interventions and after the intervention has been carried out. After the various interventions have been determined a timeline for carrying out each of the intervention is then determined. Effectiveness of the intervention techniques is also measured by measuring such variables as employee confidence, organizational structure, level of communication among employees and leadership potential. Fluency of employees to use the new system is also measured.
Organizational Development helps organization achieve change by making use of behavioral science knowledge. It involves changing the attitudes, beliefs and values of the employees.
To see how OD intervention affects the organization we will explore one such intervention that was carried out by Tata Consultancy Services. In doing so we will analyze the nature of the problem which prompted such an intervention, what processes it involved and how it affected the overall organization and its values.
Tata Consultancy Services is a leading business solutions provider in India which promises that when businesses outsource their services to Tata, it will help them achieve overall efficiency and effectiveness in their overall business. TCS is one of the worlds largest software and service consulting organizations. The year is 1998, almost thirty years since Tata Consulting Services was formed, the company has established its name as the leading Information Technology provider in India and now wants to make a place in the worlds top organizations in its field.
Areas which Require OD Intervention
Bent on achieving this target, the company investigates areas of improvement and discovers that it needs intervention in the following areas
Lack of Product Innovation and RD
The major focus remained on expediting customers orders which hampered its ability to see long term long arising from product innovation and development. This myopic vision was expected to generate problems for the company in the future.
Lack of specialization among the workforce
To expedite their solutions to employees, employees had to be rotated between departments. Thus major focused remained on satisfying the needs of the customer with less attention paid to employees needs.
Lack of Innovation among Employees
There was a need to instill the concept of experimentation among employees. The employees at Tata were used to following the instructions rather than innovating. Thus, there was a need to change the organizational culture and introduce related rewards which would encourage such behavior.
Absence of Team Based Structure
A related problem which promoted the team based culture was the nature of reward structure. Due to absence of team based tasks at Tata Consultancy Services, the reward structures were based on individual performance which did not encourage sharing of information among employees.
Image Building
The company had not yet paid much attention to the areas of public relations and branding. This affected the organizations ability to attract quality graduates.
The above stated problems provide a framework for us to design questionnaire and surveys for the employees and managers. The questions will then help us determine the nature and gravity of the issues and the type of OD intervention required.
Survey Design
The following will be the design of the survey keeping the above mentioned issues in mind. The questions below are distributed among employees, students from the top institutions of the country who are about to graduate and seek employment, and other software companies in the industry which obtain services of such companies as TCS
For Employees
What institution did you go to How well ranked is the institution you graduated from
Describe your qualification and area of expertise
Describe the organizational structure of your organization
What kind of tasks does your work involve
From the scale of 1-5 describe the level of creativity your work involves One being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
From the scale of 1-5 describe the difficulty level of your work One being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
Does the nature of your work involve frequent interactions with other employees of the organizations
Are you satisfied with the reward systems of your organization
Top university students about to graduate
What is your field of interest
How much do you know about Tata Consultancy Services
Is TCS a preferred organization of the graduates from your university
Clients companies who acquire IT solutions
Can you list the major IT solutions provider companies in the country
Which organizations would you prefer for software and consulting services or decision pertaining to outsourcing of your business
Interview Design
The data collected from the survey questions will lead us towards the process of interviews. We are now well aware of the issues at hand and know how the employees feel towards them. We can now ask the middle managers and the policy makers in Tata Consultancy Services of how they wish to address such issues. What organizational intervention techniques do they think will help remove such problems
The interview is directed towards managers of the company, both the middle managers and senior executives. Since the issue pertains to human resource, we would also like to interview the head of this department.
What is the reason for the functional hierarchical structure of the organization Why have you decided to still stick to this approach is the changing times of today
Do you think moving towards a team based or matrix structure will help organization in addressing some of these issues
How much money of your total earnings is invested in RD Do you plan to increase this amount in the future
How are the current problems hampering your target to become one of the top 10 IT solution providers in the world How do you plan to address the problems at hand
What kind of organizational development interventions do you think are needed to address these concerns What kind of tools, workshops, meetings and strategies do you have in mind
What kind of team building activities do you plan to use to tackle the issue of lack of information sharing and coordination among employees
What system processes do you plan to use to facilitate the process of sharing and coordination of information
How will you help the employees adapt to these new systems What new learning processes will it involve
At present the employees at TCS do not feel empowered and part of the decision making process How do plan to empower them and change their perceptions about this organizational value
Organizational Performance and Measurement
Organizational performance means the measurement of achieved results of the organization as measured against its intended goals and objectives. The organization can measure its performance by using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) or Key Success Indicators (KSI). These indicators may vary depending on the purpose of the organization, for example these indicators will be different for profit and not for profit organizations. Key Performance Indicator for a company like Tata Consulting Services whose aim is to be one of the top ten leading companies in the world will constitute of such quantifiable measures as Earnings Per Share (EPS), Earnings Before Taxes (EBT) and shareholders equity. It is imperative that organizational performance be measured within the context of the environment in which the business operates. It is also measured relative to the resources the organization consumes in achieving these results. Thus measuring organizational performance involves the measurement of three things effectiveness, efficiency and ongoing relevance.
Tata Consultancy Services in 1998 was the largest IT solutions provider in India. Its revenues crossed Rs 1600 crore. TCS was the first company of its kind in India and were renowned for providing timely and expedient services for its clients, usage of quality tools and procedures in its processes and quality training programs for its employees. TCS has come a long way since then and today its before tax stand at 617873, 00,000. total public share holding and earnings per share are 23280221, 00, 000 shares and 54.96 respectively as of March 2009. Its percentage gross profit margin is 25.01. (Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. n.d). However, back in 1998, TCS was facing problems with a few issues pertaining to is operations. Under immense pressure to lead the market and retain its position, management at TCS was focused on gaining short-term revenues which led to the organization being more reactive rather than proactive in meeting clients needs. Apart from this the organizational structure and individual based reward systems hampered information sharing and coordination among the employees. The organization also lacked a specialized workforce, which added work pressure on the current workers who had to be switched back and forth between departments.
I will observe the corporate culture of the organization which will itself reveal if employees are satisfied with the work policies. Observing the nature of their job will reveal how much employees are allowed to experiment in their jobs. Corporate culture will also depict how much are employees are encouraged to take part in decision making. A study of their organizational structure chart will reveal the communication flow inside the organization such as a more functional structure reveals a vertical flow of communication and a more centralized decision making pattern. I will study organizational reward systems and see if they reward a more team based participation. I will also study the current information system in the organization, and how the deployment of a new system which encourages information sharing is likely to affect the learning needs of employees.
Organizational Development Interventions
Before beginning with the organizational development interventions an initial survey is conducted within the organization to determine the current state of the organization. This will then provide a reference point for managers to calculate the effectiveness of the intervention techniques.
Intervention Recommendations
First of all there is a need to change the organization structure and shift towards a more team based structure which will foster communication and coordination among employees of various departments. Managers at TCS can use the Spiral Dynamics Tool for this purpose which will help to instill team spirit among employees in a shorter time.
Other Workshops and Activities
Recognition Rewards Reward systems need to be developed which recognize good performers within the organization. This will also motivate employees to work harder.
Deployment of new information system to facilitate collaboration among employees. This sort of intervention will also require learning sessions to educate employees about the usage of the system.
Fostering Boss-Employee Communication Employees interaction with the senior members should be encouraged, where employees could freely interact and share their concerns. For this purpose an interactionmentorship initiative needs to be developed where a person is chosen as a lead and the employee can walk in to meet the lead at any time.
Fostering Fun In Relationships Stress buster activities need to be carried out which will create an atmosphere of fun among employees. Certain trained people can be hired to carry out activities which promote a spirit of friendship among employees at TCS.
Personality and communication workshops need to be started which will help employees to speak up and foster confidence among them. This change is required due to change in organization goals which now requires information sharing and coordination among employees. These sessions or workshops can be carried out by experienced trainers.
Conducting Open House Town Halls The purpose of such meetings is to discuss strategic goals of the organization with the employees.. This will also enable the corporation to determine better performers within the organization.
Workshops for Leadership Since TCS wants employees to stand up and actively participate in goal setting for the organization there is a need to instill leadership potential among the employees.
Mentoring programs with seniors New employees can be paired up with other senior employees for training, this will not only facilitate in relationship building but also save costs to the organization of training new employees.
Survey to monitor results of interventions After the above mentioned changes have been made and workshops have been carried out a survey can be carried out to check the results of these interventions. A survey should be conducted after sometime has been passed since the intervention. This will more accurately determine the effectiveness of the OD interventions. The questions can be related to nature of their job, if it has changed in any way from before and resulted in a more interactive environment How the nature of the reward systems has changed, has team based rewards been introduced and how has the general culture in the organization has changed
The information gathered from the survey is then used to analyze results of the intervention. The gaps are then identified between the desired state and the achieved state. This will determine the effectiveness of the intervention programs. The corporation can then decide whether the current state is consistent with organizational goals or if further intervention techniques are required.
Timeline for Implementation
As the current issues are significantly affecting organizational performance, therefore a timeline is necessary so that the management knows how long it will take to effectively carry out the recommendations. The following timeline must be followed by the organization
The OD intervention techniques which were used were modifying the reward system to encourage team based work, implementation of the new system and education of the employees for use of this system. Workshops related to improving communication among employees and activities to improve leadership potential and increase confidence among the employees. The effectiveness of the intervention techniques is measured with the use of surveys which are conducted both before the implementation of the OD interventions and after the intervention has been carried out. After the various interventions have been determined a timeline for carrying out each of the intervention is then determined. Effectiveness of the intervention techniques is also measured by measuring such variables as employee confidence, organizational structure, level of communication among employees and leadership potential. Fluency of employees to use the new system is also measured.
Organizational Development helps organization achieve change by making use of behavioral science knowledge. It involves changing the attitudes, beliefs and values of the employees.
To see how OD intervention affects the organization we will explore one such intervention that was carried out by Tata Consultancy Services. In doing so we will analyze the nature of the problem which prompted such an intervention, what processes it involved and how it affected the overall organization and its values.
Tata Consultancy Services is a leading business solutions provider in India which promises that when businesses outsource their services to Tata, it will help them achieve overall efficiency and effectiveness in their overall business. TCS is one of the worlds largest software and service consulting organizations. The year is 1998, almost thirty years since Tata Consulting Services was formed, the company has established its name as the leading Information Technology provider in India and now wants to make a place in the worlds top organizations in its field.
Areas which Require OD Intervention
Bent on achieving this target, the company investigates areas of improvement and discovers that it needs intervention in the following areas
Lack of Product Innovation and RD
The major focus remained on expediting customers orders which hampered its ability to see long term long arising from product innovation and development. This myopic vision was expected to generate problems for the company in the future.
Lack of specialization among the workforce
To expedite their solutions to employees, employees had to be rotated between departments. Thus major focused remained on satisfying the needs of the customer with less attention paid to employees needs.
Lack of Innovation among Employees
There was a need to instill the concept of experimentation among employees. The employees at Tata were used to following the instructions rather than innovating. Thus, there was a need to change the organizational culture and introduce related rewards which would encourage such behavior.
Absence of Team Based Structure
A related problem which promoted the team based culture was the nature of reward structure. Due to absence of team based tasks at Tata Consultancy Services, the reward structures were based on individual performance which did not encourage sharing of information among employees.
Image Building
The company had not yet paid much attention to the areas of public relations and branding. This affected the organizations ability to attract quality graduates.
The above stated problems provide a framework for us to design questionnaire and surveys for the employees and managers. The questions will then help us determine the nature and gravity of the issues and the type of OD intervention required.
Survey Design
The following will be the design of the survey keeping the above mentioned issues in mind. The questions below are distributed among employees, students from the top institutions of the country who are about to graduate and seek employment, and other software companies in the industry which obtain services of such companies as TCS
For Employees
What institution did you go to How well ranked is the institution you graduated from
Describe your qualification and area of expertise
Describe the organizational structure of your organization
What kind of tasks does your work involve
From the scale of 1-5 describe the level of creativity your work involves One being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
From the scale of 1-5 describe the difficulty level of your work One being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
Does the nature of your work involve frequent interactions with other employees of the organizations
Are you satisfied with the reward systems of your organization
Top university students about to graduate
What is your field of interest
How much do you know about Tata Consultancy Services
Is TCS a preferred organization of the graduates from your university
Clients companies who acquire IT solutions
Can you list the major IT solutions provider companies in the country
Which organizations would you prefer for software and consulting services or decision pertaining to outsourcing of your business
Interview Design
The data collected from the survey questions will lead us towards the process of interviews. We are now well aware of the issues at hand and know how the employees feel towards them. We can now ask the middle managers and the policy makers in Tata Consultancy Services of how they wish to address such issues. What organizational intervention techniques do they think will help remove such problems
The interview is directed towards managers of the company, both the middle managers and senior executives. Since the issue pertains to human resource, we would also like to interview the head of this department.
What is the reason for the functional hierarchical structure of the organization Why have you decided to still stick to this approach is the changing times of today
Do you think moving towards a team based or matrix structure will help organization in addressing some of these issues
How much money of your total earnings is invested in RD Do you plan to increase this amount in the future
How are the current problems hampering your target to become one of the top 10 IT solution providers in the world How do you plan to address the problems at hand
What kind of organizational development interventions do you think are needed to address these concerns What kind of tools, workshops, meetings and strategies do you have in mind
What kind of team building activities do you plan to use to tackle the issue of lack of information sharing and coordination among employees
What system processes do you plan to use to facilitate the process of sharing and coordination of information
How will you help the employees adapt to these new systems What new learning processes will it involve
At present the employees at TCS do not feel empowered and part of the decision making process How do plan to empower them and change their perceptions about this organizational value
Organizational Performance and Measurement
Organizational performance means the measurement of achieved results of the organization as measured against its intended goals and objectives. The organization can measure its performance by using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) or Key Success Indicators (KSI). These indicators may vary depending on the purpose of the organization, for example these indicators will be different for profit and not for profit organizations. Key Performance Indicator for a company like Tata Consulting Services whose aim is to be one of the top ten leading companies in the world will constitute of such quantifiable measures as Earnings Per Share (EPS), Earnings Before Taxes (EBT) and shareholders equity. It is imperative that organizational performance be measured within the context of the environment in which the business operates. It is also measured relative to the resources the organization consumes in achieving these results. Thus measuring organizational performance involves the measurement of three things effectiveness, efficiency and ongoing relevance.
Tata Consultancy Services in 1998 was the largest IT solutions provider in India. Its revenues crossed Rs 1600 crore. TCS was the first company of its kind in India and were renowned for providing timely and expedient services for its clients, usage of quality tools and procedures in its processes and quality training programs for its employees. TCS has come a long way since then and today its before tax stand at 617873, 00,000. total public share holding and earnings per share are 23280221, 00, 000 shares and 54.96 respectively as of March 2009. Its percentage gross profit margin is 25.01. (Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. n.d). However, back in 1998, TCS was facing problems with a few issues pertaining to is operations. Under immense pressure to lead the market and retain its position, management at TCS was focused on gaining short-term revenues which led to the organization being more reactive rather than proactive in meeting clients needs. Apart from this the organizational structure and individual based reward systems hampered information sharing and coordination among the employees. The organization also lacked a specialized workforce, which added work pressure on the current workers who had to be switched back and forth between departments.
I will observe the corporate culture of the organization which will itself reveal if employees are satisfied with the work policies. Observing the nature of their job will reveal how much employees are allowed to experiment in their jobs. Corporate culture will also depict how much are employees are encouraged to take part in decision making. A study of their organizational structure chart will reveal the communication flow inside the organization such as a more functional structure reveals a vertical flow of communication and a more centralized decision making pattern. I will study organizational reward systems and see if they reward a more team based participation. I will also study the current information system in the organization, and how the deployment of a new system which encourages information sharing is likely to affect the learning needs of employees.
Organizational Development Interventions
Before beginning with the organizational development interventions an initial survey is conducted within the organization to determine the current state of the organization. This will then provide a reference point for managers to calculate the effectiveness of the intervention techniques.
Intervention Recommendations
First of all there is a need to change the organization structure and shift towards a more team based structure which will foster communication and coordination among employees of various departments. Managers at TCS can use the Spiral Dynamics Tool for this purpose which will help to instill team spirit among employees in a shorter time.
Other Workshops and Activities
Recognition Rewards Reward systems need to be developed which recognize good performers within the organization. This will also motivate employees to work harder.
Deployment of new information system to facilitate collaboration among employees. This sort of intervention will also require learning sessions to educate employees about the usage of the system.
Fostering Boss-Employee Communication Employees interaction with the senior members should be encouraged, where employees could freely interact and share their concerns. For this purpose an interactionmentorship initiative needs to be developed where a person is chosen as a lead and the employee can walk in to meet the lead at any time.
Fostering Fun In Relationships Stress buster activities need to be carried out which will create an atmosphere of fun among employees. Certain trained people can be hired to carry out activities which promote a spirit of friendship among employees at TCS.
Personality and communication workshops need to be started which will help employees to speak up and foster confidence among them. This change is required due to change in organization goals which now requires information sharing and coordination among employees. These sessions or workshops can be carried out by experienced trainers.
Conducting Open House Town Halls The purpose of such meetings is to discuss strategic goals of the organization with the employees.. This will also enable the corporation to determine better performers within the organization.
Workshops for Leadership Since TCS wants employees to stand up and actively participate in goal setting for the organization there is a need to instill leadership potential among the employees.
Mentoring programs with seniors New employees can be paired up with other senior employees for training, this will not only facilitate in relationship building but also save costs to the organization of training new employees.
Survey to monitor results of interventions After the above mentioned changes have been made and workshops have been carried out a survey can be carried out to check the results of these interventions. A survey should be conducted after sometime has been passed since the intervention. This will more accurately determine the effectiveness of the OD interventions. The questions can be related to nature of their job, if it has changed in any way from before and resulted in a more interactive environment How the nature of the reward systems has changed, has team based rewards been introduced and how has the general culture in the organization has changed
The information gathered from the survey is then used to analyze results of the intervention. The gaps are then identified between the desired state and the achieved state. This will determine the effectiveness of the intervention programs. The corporation can then decide whether the current state is consistent with organizational goals or if further intervention techniques are required.
Timeline for Implementation
As the current issues are significantly affecting organizational performance, therefore a timeline is necessary so that the management knows how long it will take to effectively carry out the recommendations. The following timeline must be followed by the organization
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