IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1: T2T

Submitted by
HRA Group 6

Group Members
Neha Bellamkonda FH19002
Amanpreet Singh H19007
Ankush Bansal H19009
Noel Saji Paul H19033
Pooja Sinha H19034
Pradan Jain H19035
Saksham Solanki H19045
Satyam Roy H19046
Sujoy Mondal H19054
Vishnu Nair H19057
Yogesh Sharma H19059
Swetha Molugu H19147

XLRI, JAMSHEDPUR
August 2020
 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

1. Elevating line leaders and HQ staff to a) become engaged in “the game” of this
transformation; b) grow out of their business and Cultural “echo chambers”; and c)
reach agreement on the needed Changes and the path to implement new these
programs/processes.

a) All the methods below would help the line leaders and HQ staff become fully engaged in
the game of transformation
● Involve both HQ staff and line leaders of the merged unit in a task force where they
meet at regular intervals and provide suggestions on enabling mechanisms that can be
devised to foster changes that are required in order to succeed
● HR can announce an internal competition where in the line leaders and headquarters
staff along with their team can come up with different strategies and plans useful for
the organization and the team that wins would be rewarded based on effectiveness and
innovativeness of the strategy.
● The performance management system of each and every employee will need to be
realigned. In order to do this effectively we must follow a step by step process. First,
top management would fill their objectives from which the business unit heads would
pick some objectives and then each department head could fill the same from whom
line managers would fill their objectives and then it goes to every individual
employee. There will be some goals e.g. those that are behavioural, and competency
related that can be common across the organisation to promote a common culture and
competencies for future. In this way, every employee’s objectives are aligned to the
organization strategy and the employee is fully engaged in the organization goals.
● PMS objective filling would be in the below mentioned order:
o Organization’s objectives 🡪 top management’s objectives 🡪 business unit
head’s objectives / HQ’s objectives 🡪 department head’s objectives 🡪 line
manager’s objectives 🡪 employee’s objectives
● The management and business heads should take efforts and explain to employees the
need of the transformation and the benefits that will be achieved with changes in the
way work is to be done. This will ensure a participative management approach will be
more effective in engaging employees in the whole process of transformation

b) Both line leaders and HQ staff could grow out of their business and Cultural “echo
chambers” to see the big picture of the organization in the following manner
● Once they both are involved together as a task force, they would definitely learn new
practices that are going on across the organization
● Cross-Cultural trainings can be given to all the employees who are collaborating
across the organization so that they understand the differences and get along well
● Once they know the differences, they would give opportunity for everyone to speak in
the meeting and also constructive criticism would be given on the points mentioned
and would come up with better solutions.
● Leadership development training to budding leaders and cross business and
cross-cultural assignments to expand their horizon out of the silo mentality

c) The following points would help the line leaders and HQ staff reach agreement on the
needed Changes and the path to implement these new programs/processes.

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

● Now that they have come with solutions, an implementation team is also to be created
which is really important so that the decided plan/strategy for the transformation is
executed correctly. 
● This execution team should consist of both employees working at different business
units apart from the line managers and also head-quarters staff to provide support
whenever required
● This transformation implementation team could meet once a month to review the
status of the work and also the issues they are facing.

2. Cross border decision-making forums and design “Action  Squads” are needed to
build the desired new organization, technology, Work processes, and HRM programs
which are globally consistent for Needed scale and locally flexed to be effective in given
countries or Markets

The following forums are needed by T2T to build the desired new organization, technology,
work processes and HRM programs which are globally consistent for needed scale and
locally flexed to be effective in given countries:

 Forum 1: Strategy planning Forum

Purpose: This forum is required to create strategies so as to make the transitioning from
separate business units to a new consolidated business unit. The forum will have following
purposes:

● To align all business units in the process of consolidating

● To optimize investment levels in various markets especially emerging markets based
on emerging local and global demand outlook
● To streamline business processes to drive revenue growth, enhance profit margins
and reduce costs thus improving both top line and bottom line.
● To ensure Cross-cultural integration across the organization
● To harmonize the performance management system across the organization.

 Process:

● Create a competitive profile matrix to performance vis-a-vis competitors to identify

the CSFs which are strengths for the company and make plans keeping in mind the
profile matrix.
● Identify the best practices across the industry and examine scope for their
implementation in the organization and the ways in which the implementation will be
beneficial
● Identify key areas which need to be worked on while merging the three units and
prepare plans to make the transitioning smooth
● L&D training in cross cultural management and internal job postings to achieve
cultural awareness and understanding of local context. 

People associated: Business unit heads, CEO of the organization, Sonja, CHROs of BUs, all
the CXOs of BUs

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

Forum 2: Talent management forum

Purpose: Since it is clearly visible in the case that many people are either going to retire or
are leaving the job to join the competitors. In order to deal with the situation of lack of talent
to work this forum is to be devised. The main purposes of this forum are as follows:

● Succession planning and talent management (man-power planning & talent

acquisition and engagement practices)
● Address the issue of many employees retiring and leaving the company through
succession planning
● Address the issue of attrition by ensuring that a successor is available for every cadre

Process: The following processes are to be followed by the forum

● Identify talent for development and also potential employees who may retire or leave
the company in future.
● Codify all business processes and create a talent pipeline to fill up posts as and when
they become vacant.
● Job descriptions should be added for all roles to attract the right employees.
● Company-wide potential appraisal through assessment centers.

People associated: Group HR, HR Business partners, HR center of excellence team, Line
managers, Employee representative

Forum 3: Strategy implementation Forum

Purpose: To implement the strategic plans on the departmental scale for each separate team
and boost the operational efficiency of the organization as a whole

The processes to be followed by the forum are as follows:

● Assessing the gaps in the current processes for each of the teams.
● Creating process alignment with strategy by aligning individual teams with the
strategies for each department so that the transition is smooth.
● Meeting operational efficiency targets by improving the asset utilization for the newly
created unit.
● Creating integrating roles in each individual team to rectify the issue of silo mentality.
Also these integrating roles will help ease the problems during and after consolidation
● Incorporating industry best practices into the mix and creating plans for smooth
functioning of the teams using these practices. These plans are already created by the
Strategic planning committee. Here these plans will be implemented so as to attain a
smooth transition.

People associated: BU heads, Department Heads for each team 

Forum 4: Consolidated Learning and development Team

The main purpose of this team is to work on cross cultural training, behavioural and technical
training programs so as to make the transition to a new consolidated business unit easier. 

Process:

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

● Assess the requirements of technical training by identifying the differences in

Standard Operating Procedures and process followed. This step will bring the new
consolidated business unit on a flatter path and reduce the road bumps caused due to
different SOPs and processes followed.
● Identifying the teams which must have cross cultural training and providing them with
these training so the day to day talks are not hampered by innate misunderstandings.
● Catering to the training needs of the new consolidated business unit by providing best
trainings to improve efficiency of the workforce thus improving the utilization from
70% to the targeted value.
● Setting up processes in place to identify the training needs of the teams working in the
new consolidated Business unit.

People Associated: Corporate L&D team, HR head of the new BU, HRs of individual units,
BU head of the consolidated unit, Individual Department Heads.

 Action Squads

 Apart from the forums there are certain action squads that are needed to ensure smooth
functioning of the New Consolidated Business Unit. The action squads are needed to solve
the following problems

● Industrial Relations: There are issues relating to industrial relations in DF1.

Therefore, in order to maintain consistency with the Trade Unions and to ensure that
the Trade unions are on the same page, a separate squad should be formed to deal with
the scenario.
● Grievance handling: Since the consolidation will leave the people with many issues a
separate grievance handling team at every location. The team will have members from
each particular locality who will report to the grievance handling committee for the
new consolidated Business unit.  

3. Ways to deliver with speed and quality the agreed upon work system Changes and
enabling HRM practices

Best Practices and Change communication:

● In case of domestic freight 1 (DF1) the best practices committee was not able to
implement the changes due to the resistance it faced from local management and
unions. In order to avoid repetition of the past mistake the work system changes must
be supported by the management and union of DF1, DF2 and global express.
● For getting support from the local management it is essential that a new best practices
team is created which consists of members from DF1, DF2 and the members from the
original best practices team. After the new team finalises its recommendations a town
hall meeting can be arranged for all line managers in order to explain the new
practices in detail and to convince them that the new system will benefit them. Once
the line managers and local HRs are convinced of the usefulness of the changes, they
should be asked to communicate it to their teams and also the union leaders, who in
turn can inform the other employees.
● A formal feedback system should be established so that the line managers can inform
the best practices team about the potential issues raised by the employees and for

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

clearing doubts if any. An action plan should be created which outlines the steps to be
taken to implement the change and also appropriate performance indicators should be
decided upon to check the status of implementation of change. After incorporating the
suggestions from the line managers and employees the changes should be
implemented.

Other HR practices and Cultural change:

● Global express has well-established HR practices and pilot runs of pay for
performance and leadership development has been conducted. The HR systems of
DF1 and DF2 should be modified to match that of global express. The jobs
descriptions should be created for roles in DF1 and DF2 and the similar jobs in DF1,
DF2 and global express should be merged into a common band across the three units
this will ensure that there is a clear order of hierarchy in the amalgamated unit. This
activity will also help in creating a common job market for all the three units and the
employees can be shifted easily as per the business requirements. Once a uniform
HRM system has been designed the “T2T Delivery- Anywhere, Any Time” business
unit will be able to function as one cohesive unit.
● The culture of the three units should be studied and the aspects of the culture which
are in line with the business goal of the combined unit can be implemented across
units. Some representatives from each unit should be then trained and should be sent
to each business unit as ambassadors of cultural change.
● The HR team needs to cognizant of the fact cultural change takes time.

4. Ways to govern effectively the global/local interplay among the country level and
business unit groups to achieve success.

Operating requirements and key responsibilities.

Global level: Strategy shall be defined at a global level for business unit groups after taking
into consideration the business unit resources and capabilities, maturity stage of product
development, previous years’ local sales data, applicable regulatory global governance
authorities for any such trade restriction like WTO quotas, and competition estimates
provided by Business Units. Make a balanced score card and identify critical success factors
which would increase the organizational effectiveness which in turn would increase the
finances, set a strategy and send it across different BUs and headquarters, have review
meetings on time to time basis to audit on this. If gains due to standardization and
centralization is 10% more compared to current processes.
Business unit level (regional): Group of executives with strategic direction for global level,
shall define the initiatives necessary to attain the growth goals with market research inputs for
product growth estimation and execute business plan. Along with this, necessary mechanisms
to link performance with demographic goals, shall be followed by communication of any
roadblocks to the global committee.
Country level: The scope of operations of the product at local level, now must be executed
by placing accountabilities to key functionaries.
Governance operating Model :  Looking at the recent decision of consolidation and
requirement of Sonya to reach the three year target, we must design the organizational
structure with caution, that is we need to balance out the independence of business units to
take decisions with necessary control from global steering committee at least in the initial
years, resulting in formation of Hybrid Organization Structure at least for the initial phase.

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

This kind of structure depends on factors such as degree of a global orientation and local
internalization.
 

 
A globally integrated, locally customized talent and HR strategy demands a combination of
centralized, global standards and services coupled with distributed, highly trained experts.
Hence the below mentioned practices can be used to balance local vs global interplay
Leverage global technology: Implement a common global technology platform to support
the global HR organization and offer easy-to-use self-service capabilities to managers and
employees.
Rationalize core global services: Establish a core set of services for administration and
talent communities of expertise. Encourage communities of expertise to learn from local
business partners to determine leading practices in the field.
Encourage country initiatives within global processes: Once global processes, roles, and
expectations are created, expand the team to include communities of expertise and let local
HR leaders create, customize, and deliver local programs. They can leverage the corporate
infrastructure and standards to optimize talent strategies and HR programs in each business
and geography, driving impact at the country level.
Create deep specialists: Reduce the need for HR generalists and move them into the role of
HR specialists, focused on recruiting, organizational development, employee relations, and
compensation. These specialists can be located in or assigned to the business, but they should
operate as a “network of expertise,” sharing skills with each other.
Build HR “skill masters”: Invest in training, certifying, and developing the HR team to
ensure that each member knows how to use all tools and data and feels connected to the
larger community of leading practices and new ideas in the marketplace. Deep expertise
belongs in HR no less than in other functions.
  

5. How to structure all these different change programs in a way which is culturally
effective and market “winning”?
● The change programs mentioned above should be structured in such a way that they
are aligned to business goals at global level but at the same time factor in the context
of that culture and resource and regulatory constraints and can flexibly adapt to that
context. 

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 IHRM TERM IV EXAM #1 by HR-A Group 6

● All the change initiatives should start with a buy-in process for the change. For
programs that are to be implemented centrally this buy-in should come from CEO,
Functional heads and Business Unit heads of that area of change. For local and
country level changes it would be the local and functional leaders.
● There should also be proper communication officially through appropriate channels
and feedback should be taken to improve the initiative, so that any miscommunication
could be avoided and concerns addressed.
● After this a proper timeline for implementation should be sought from process owners
and there should be timely reviews of progress made, any roadblocks faced and how
to resolve them.
● Proper metrics should be developed to measure the impact and successful
implementation of the change programs.
● Active involvement of line leaders should be there for implementing these change
initiatives and their performance metrics would include successful implementation of
these change initiatives.
● A communication plan should be developed before rolling out the change
● At every layer in the organisational structure, A line leader shall be identified and
must be trained to align with the company's vision, executing the missing and should
be motivated to make the desired change happen efficiently.  
● The top-level management needs to develop a baseline that shall define a clear end
state/ desired culture and device plans that facilitates smooth transition.
● Continuous re-assessment of the impact of change and employee’s adaptability and
willingness to adapt to change processes shall be done at frequent intervals. Real time
data shall be fed from the employees and line managers, the top management can
make necessary adjustments to maintain the change momentum. 
● As the organization is undergoing a major overhaul and transformation in terms of the
context and landscape it is operating in, it is very necessary and inevitable that the
employees are well informed about the new strategy, goals, and objectives of the
organization. KPIs developed should be actionable in nature and should be such that it
can be properly measured. While considering the performance assessment aspect of
an employee, not only the outcome should be considered but a significant portion
should also be based on the on-job behaviour employees. This will result in fostering
a coherent culture in the organization which will be in sync with the strategy. Also,
with this change - goals need to be reset and objectives to be re-outlined to be
contextual with the changing and dynamic environment. In the times of change and
uncertainty, it becomes imperative for the leaders to have use different channels of
communication to reach out to employees to tone down their apprehensions about
how the company will move forward in a thriving environment - empathy will play a
critical role here as leaders and managers need to understand the trouble that the
employees will have to undergo due to the structural and cultural change and this
every action taken should have that aspect in mind. 
● Also , as T2T is keen on adopting best practices, it should be undertaken with utmost
caution as institutionalizing methods , practices & policies should be done in a very
contextual way so that the required culture is trickled down and cascaded to different
BU s in the organization. Every employee of the organization should resonate with the
sense of purpose as this will further help in integration of resources thereby increasing
the efficiency & productivity.
● Commitment & Empathy is the need of the hour & thus should be ingrained in every
process of the organization post the change.

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