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NARRATIVE

ABC consultancy is one of the leading investment banking firm in India. Based in
Mumbai, it has branches all over the country. It helps firms and companies to carry
out mergers and acquisitions and has a fine track record. ABC consultancy has a
very good reputation in the market when it comes to ethics and work culture. But
for the past five years, the attrition rate has drastically gone up and this has led to a
general perception in the market that the new Regional Head, Mr. Singhania, and his
new team of project managers, is somewhere associated with this issue.

BACKGROUND
ABC consultancy mostly recruited from premier B-Schools and preferred candidate
with relevant experiences. New recruits were hired for the position of Consultants
and were allotted projects based on their area of interest. Most of the projects were
led by employees with at least 7-10 years of work experience (in relevant domains)
and were given the designation of Project Managers/ Team Leads. These Project
Leaders reported to the Regional Head who was responsible for monitoring and
smooth executions of projects.

Harish
Harish, a 27 year old IIT-Delhi graduate, started his career as a Research Analyst for
Barclays Capital. After working for two and a half years, he joined IIM Calcutta for
his Post Graduate Diploma in Management. Because of his fine communication skills
and friendly behavior, he was a recognizable figure in the team. His social skills
enhanced his acceptance within his peer groups and was always the popular guy in
the group.

Ashok
Ashok, a 28 year old NIT Allahabad graduate, came from a very humble rural town
of Chhattisgarh. He did his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from NMIMS
Mumbai and prior to that he worked for J P Morgan Chase for 3 years as a Senior
Analyst. He was hardworking, dedicated towards his work and always prioritized
work over any other task. During his tenure with JPMC, he was appreciated by his
manager for his hard work and sincerity, but was also advised to work on his
interpersonal skills.

Mr. Razdan

Mr. Razdan, a 42 year old B.Com graduate from Delhi University. He did his Post
Graduate Diploma in Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. After completion of this
course he pursed a career in investment banking sector, working for major
companies such as Barclays, Morgen Stanley and JP Morgan. His work experience
spanned over 15 years and his specialization area was Mergers and Acquisitions. He
was an avid reader and firmly believed that communication skills play a key role in
enhancing ones managerial abilities.
Phase 1
Both Harish and Ashok were assigned to the same project. They were evaluating
merger of two companies, EFG Bank and HIJ Investment Group. During this period
Harish got a chance to know more about Ashok, his ability and experience. Ashok,
thorough with his understanding about the merger process, was able to handle the
project in a more efficient way, while Harish was struggling with it. Due to this,
Ashok had to do a major chunk of the work. While on the other hand, during the
daily project progress meeting with Mr. Razdan, Harish always took the opportunity
of presenting the report and was portrayed as the face of the team, which
eventually helped him to build his rapport. (Perception)
After a month, Mr. Razdan called the team for an individual evaluation interview. In
spite of the fact that Harish was unable comprehensively describe his contribution
towards the project, Mr. Razdan was still pleased with his effective communication
skill. For the most part of his interview, the two were talking about the benefits of an
effective orator and Mr. Razdan was easily able to relate to this topic as he was also
a good debater back in his college days. Mr. Razdan had a perception that an
effective communicator is fit to deal with both people and problems effectively. He
thought that with good communication a person can pass his/her ideas and
thoughts more coherently across the group. This favored Harish. (Halo effect)
Ashok was called in after Harish. Since he belonged to a rural background, he was
simple in his dressing sense and the way he carried himself. He was generally the
quite one in his group and spoke only when there was some work related query.
During the interview, Ashok managed to sum up his contribution towards the project
but as he lacked the presentation skills, Mr. Razdan was not at all impressed by him
and completely ignored his work. In fact, Mr. Razdan recommended Ashok to join a
departmental training course to improve his soft skills. He assumed that Ashok,
being from a rural background, would lack effective interpersonal skills.
(Stereotyping)
After the success of the first phase, Mr. Singhania, the Regional Head, was satisfied
with the results and the feedback given by clients was also positive. Mr. Razdan
called a team meeting and made an announcement regarding the success of first
phase and personally congratulated Harish. He also told the group about Phase 2 of
the project where the team would be split in two subgroups with additional
members so that the next phase is completed in time.

Phase 2

Mr. Razdan made Harish the Team Leader for the first group while Ashok was part of
the other group. The work was split in two halves and was supposed to be
completed by the next week.
As Ashok was part of a new group, he got a higher degree of freedom to implement
his ideas and thoughts, while planning and executing the given task. (Job
enrichment) His coworkers in the new group were more understanding and coherent
than previous group. They worked in rotation so that no one is overburdened,
therefore the overall atmosphere of this group was very conducive. (Job rotation)
This helped them to complete the task within the given deadline.
On the other hand, Harish wasnt able to handle the leadership role given to him.
Initially he was unable to allocate task to his team mates due to which there was
ineffective coordination among the group members. This resulted in an overall
failure and they were not able to meet the given deadline.
The project got delayed by a week and was completed after a lot of rescheduling. As
the aftermath of this delay, Mr. Razdan called a meeting to discuss issues related to
the project. During the meeting he asked Harish about the failure they encountered
and what was the reason for it. Harish told the manager that he was not provided
with sufficient resources which led to the failure of his team. (Self-serving bias)
Mr. Razdan appreciated the efforts put in by Ashoks team and also recognized his
contribution. Further to recognize Ashoks effort he forwarded his name for the Best
Employee award. This provided a positive background for Ashok to work in and
helped him to grow within the organization.

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