Change Management at ICICI Saurav Pokhrel, 10130

ICICI went under series of changes after the elimination of DFI monopoly and DFI's subsidized funds as well as with the appointment of KV Kamath. Kamath with his appointment brought new vision and purpose within the organization. With new found freedom Kamath introduced a series of change programs in the organization structure, its product and functional system. However, the change saw some resistance from its employees, which Kamath managed successfully by providing trainings and new appraisal systems. Massive changes in the organizational structure such as emphasis of the organization, area of operation, products, reward system and appraisal system were introduced by Kamath in 1996. These changes can be analyzed from the change management model. Change management model describes a theoretical framework to effectively manage and sustain the change. Motivating Change Motivating change is to create a readiness for change. There are various stakeholders such as employees who should be sensitize about the pressure for changes and need to show the discrepancy between the current and desired states. Kamath had seen changes in financial sector in abroad. ICICI was neither a low cost player not it was differentiator, hence, Kamath realized that ICICI need to become one-stop shop for financial services. Likewise, Kamath found that the current system was too time consuming for its customers and he feared that they might lose their customers. Hence, he identified that the current system should be revamped and new departments should be created to solve the problem. There was also difference in culture and management emphasis between ICICI and BoM when they merged together. Kamath understood this fact and realized that there should be changes in BoM to make them par with ICICI. Creating a vision ICICI had a new found vision of being a market driven financial conglomerate and wanted to focus their operations sharply around its customers. It wanted to become one-stop shop for financial services and aimed at becoming prominent financial service provider in country; hence, it undertook a series of mergers with other financial institutions. Developing Political Support Developing a political support is all about assessing the change agent power in the situation and identifying and influencing the key players of change. The key players for changes in ICICI were its employees and employee unions. To garnish the relationship and influence their behaviors ICICI introduced various training and seminar programs. Likewise, ICICI identified that employee unions were crucial stakeholder of the process; hence, they initiated a direct dialog with them to maintain a good employee relations.

Managing the transition To manage the changes effectively, Kamath created new departments based on industry such as infrastructure, oil and gas and others. He gathered talented pool of individuals from within its organization who handled these departments. Likewise, to make the customer service efficient and to make one stop shop for financial services, new departments were created such as Major Client Group, Growth Client Group and Personal Finance Group. Likewise, during the merger with BoM, Hewitt Associates were appointed to look after the change management problems. Sustaining Momentum Even though, change management is initiated it has to be sustained so that desired results can be achieved. Necessary resources, support system, and new competencies and skills should be initiated to reinforce new behaviors and make the change members stay within the course. To sustain the momentum of change ICICI introduced various training programs such as in-house training, overseas training and Graduates' Management Training programs. Likewise, new group based reward system and 360 degree appraisal system was introduced to sustain the changes. After the merger with BoM, ICICI established a clear channel of communications and training programs as well as promotional schemes for BoM employees. This helped them to sustain the momentum of change. ICICI seems to have followed the general change management model. It first motivated its employees to accept that the changes was necessary, it created a purpose for the change as it wants to become one stop shop for financial services and market driven financial institution, identified key players and tried to influence it, managed the change and took necessary steps to sustain the momentum of change. With its new found vision and purpose, changes in future is inevitable and it should look forward to continuously make change management effective and efficient.

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