tcs - an organizational outlook

7/29/2019 TCS - An organizational outlook

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G r o u p 1 0 S e c t i o n A P G P 2 0 1 4

12/11/12

Abhinav P (06/49)

Amit D (32/49)

Amol K (37/49)

Ankita Z (54/49)

Abhishek J (08/49)

Abhishek M (10/49)

Ajit S. V (35/49)

TCS: An organizational

Outlook

Tata Consultancy Services


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INTRODUCTION:Over the time TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) since its inception in 1968 has proven itscredential as a SMART organization in comparison to the other industries in the Indian andWorld Economic arena. The intention of this article is to study how TCS has created a cultureof change built into it structure which has facilitated the process to support its way ofoperation and put it always ahead of time. A strong leadership in place and vision well-articulated and propagated to the grass root level has enabled this great organization to showits flexibility in adopting the best practices and made the structure more dynamic than beingstatic. Dynamism means turbulence and turbulence means more energy and as pernatures philosophy Every matter tries to be at its lowest energy state but for TCS thisis an exception. Controlled turbulence and Un-controlled turbulence are diametricallyopposite; one stimulates all positive stuffs and the other enables the destruction process; the

best example could be Water turbulence; when controlled creates electrical energy and un-controlled creates flood situations. Adaptability of Smart organization theory has made TCSto achieve controlled turbulent organization structure which has enabled all the positive facets

of organizational growth in TCS.

In his book -The TCS story - Mr. Ramadorai takes readers through the whole journeyof how TCS built itself during 1968-1996 periods and changed its guard post 1996.Mr. Ramadorai retired from TCS as chief executive in 2009. CEO Kohli who workedtill 1996 was Autocratic in nature while CEO Ramadorai focused on team inclusion

policy.

1968-96 Building TCS

Background

India was technologically backward in 1960s. J.R.D. tata decided to come up with an In-house data processing unit and TCS was formed. TCS depended on various organizationsunder TATA group for work, but except Tata electric, all tata companies preferred not tooutsource this work to TCS. This situation encouraged TCS to look for other customers. WithIBM machines, experts MITians like Ashok Malhotra and Nitin Patel and with a office in

Nirmal Building at Nariman Point of Mumbai, TCS started attracting private customersgradually.

Unique Model

As it was difficult to find private customers, General Manager Kohli shifted its businessmodel from being a data processing company to a management consulting company. Oncethe client engaged more in business, it automatically got encouraged to take up data

processing services of TCS. This model was exactly opposite to the one followed by westernmanagement consulting companies which were diversifying into IT services. To help

business grow, consistent supply of intellectuals is very important. TCS recruited almost thewhole first batch of Masters in Computer Science students from IIT Kanpur in late 1960s.

Kohlis Leadership

Mr. Kohli was made TCS director in 1974 and TCS customer policy changed accordingly. Itadopted the culture of under-promising and over-delivering to the clients. TCS had noreference points to follow as it was doing most of the things first time in India. Under Kohlis

autocratic leadership, TCS was operated more like a startup. In 1978, to keep the minds


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engaged at workplace, TCS, under Mr. Ramadorai, came up with a quiz series based on theformat of popular BBC quiz show University Challenge. It became very popular and helpedin boosting employee engagement.

License Raj

With Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) imposed in 1973 by Indira Gandhigovernment, many western companies lose interest in operating in India. IBM left its indiaoperations in 1978 due to concerns about stringent regulations and protection of intellectual

property. Even for TCS, it was difficult to flourish in India. TCS established a distributionagreement with Burroughs, one of the big three main computer makers then. TCS had to givean export commitment of twice the import cost over the next five years. It required TCS tosend people overseas to implement changes at client locations. The strategy of doing part ofthe work in India and then working at client locations on implementation formed thebeginning of Indian Outsourcing model.

Developing Nation AttitudeWith time TCS team started growing. In 1970s, 90 % of the total cost quoted to the client washardware costs while software and people costs were 5 % each. Today, hardware costsrepresent only 5 % of total costs while People and Software costs are 45-50 % each. Tatasdeveloping nation attitude helped TCS to put efforts in reducing hardware costs through

finding cheaper domestic alternatives.

Just another Startup

Tata sons and Burroughs formed a joint venture to sell and maintain Burroughs equipments inIndia. Unfortunately, the joint venture broke up leaving the partners compete with each otherin the same market. TCS was very weak compared to Burroughs and the breakup of JV putTCS back to just another startup stage. TCS had to strive hard to establish itself strongly inthe challenging scenario. TCS became the first Indian IT company to set up office abroad in

New York. As a first resident manager in USA, Mr. Ramadorai made consistent efforts inestablishing TCS as brand in USA. The initial big breakthroughs were Institutional GroupInformation Corporation (IGIC) contract and American express contract.

TCS and Financial Services

The financial services sector was seen as an early adapter of technology. TCS decided tosecure some early contract wins in this space in order to gain experience and domain

knowledge. It developed an innovative retail banking system for Western Trust and SavingsLimited (WTSL), a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Swiss National Bank

Switzerland was the most advanced financial markets in the world at that time. In 1983, TCSundertook an offshore project for Swiss National Bank (SNB). The experience of workingwith a demanding customer helped the company to shape its corporate culture and establish

benchmarks. This project helped TCS to understand the significance of customer focus,

emphasis on quality and planning and sticking to deadlines.


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Sega Inter Settle (SEGA)

In 1989, TCS created a real time securities settlement system, a second generation systeminvolving a mixture of migration work and new software development. The core of the

proposal was the repository or storage system for the project, which helped the company to

grab the game changing opportunity. The project helped TCS establish as a world-classsystems integrator in the financial services industry.

National Stock Exchange (NSE)

The Harshad Mehta Scam in 1990s revealed the lacunae in the trading system andhighlighted the need to introduce international standards into the Indian stock market tradingsystem. The project with NSE was the first system integration project using a third partysolution for stock trading. It was a benchmark in the performance engineering domain and

learning about mission critical issues and complex fault tolerant systems.

National Securities and Depositories Limited (NSDL)

TCS helped the settlement of trades by facilitating the dematerialization of securities from apaper-based system to digital form. It offered a solution based on the SEGA mainframemigrated to an open system. The project was the fastest settlement of a depository in theworld. TCS also implemented a project for the Pensions Regulatory Authority, known as thePensions Project. This helped in building the TCS brand and the creation of vitalinfrastructure for the country in addition to the value and profitability of the project.

Standard Chartered Bank

TCS developed an off-the-shelf custody system for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.This was a breakthrough project to foray into the banking arena. In 1995, TCS extended its

product portfolio, leveraging the knowledge base of the project initiative to create a regionalsecurities processing platform. The NCS programme was realised with Standard Chartered asthe partner bank and first taker of the solution.

The Indian financial market had provided TCS with ample challenges and opportunities tolearn and build in-depth expertise through greenfield projects in technology and applications

perspectives, and also build up the requisite domain knowledge and expertise throughtraining.

1996-2002

By the mid 1990s, TCS had entered a new phase in its development and was beginning toexpand its reach. The period was marked by a change in the organizational change, with anew senior management team. Each person in the top management was given multiple rolesand moved from role to new role and challenge to new challenges on a regular basis. Thegrounding practiced by the managers helped to infuse confidence to take up new challengesand responsibilities beyond their own sandboxed role in the organization.

The top management mentored people in their own unique style which was more critical thancomplimentary rather than a dialogue and not the collaborative process that is prevalent


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today. This facilitated a strong performance management system in the organisation,encouraging self-appraisals or spider web assessments. The organisations culture wascharacterised by professionalism and mentoring the employees to stick to their priorities,which infused a sense of commitment in the people.

The top management team was spread across geographical domains, and carried the ultimateresponsibility for all decisions. However, there was an emphasis on recognising individualtalents and capabilities of people, and talking decisions by collectively analysing the pros andcons.

The anecdotal approach fostered strong management skills, active inclusion and helped themanagement to buy into a process. People were encouraged to express their opinions and

provide alternate point of views, and gain a wide exposure to different people and variety ofsituations. Transparent internal policies were formulated without any exceptions, in order totransform the organizational culture. By the beginning of the 20 th century, succession

planning became the need of the hour as the top management built the organization strength,

fulfil its strategic intent and become role models for organizational values.

Transforming the future

The TCS business model, since its inception was based on the premise that India was notshort of talent and that if harnessed and steered in the right direction, this talent could beleveraged effectively. A lot of emphasis was given on developing a people-centric ecosystem

by forging relationships with academia- especially the IITs and premier engineeringcolleges, which provided most of the early recruits. AN academic interface programme wascreated, bringing together the heads of the premier institutions. Over time, TCS adopted astructured organization with a recruitment process based on aptitude tests and analytical and

logical ability tests.

There was a lot of emphasis on performance management and comprehensive self-appraisalsystem. However, there was a clear separation between financial rewards and performanceassessments.

Maitree

Maitree was an initiative taken by TCS to engage its rapidly growing workforce by bringingthem together by way of interest groups, cultural and sports festivals. It became a lively andcolourful repository of vital information and a vehicle for informal exchanges betweenassociates.

Ignite

This was an initiative taken to promote the talent in the organisation by creating awarenessabout the IT industry and growth in this sector. It used a high-tech, high-touch approachwhich was reflected in a specially designed facility that offered flexibility for individual andgroup activity, face-to-face interactions and distance learning

The Innovation Journey

Setting up TRDDC

J.R.D. Tata set up indias first software research centre (TRDDC) in Pune. TRDDC focused

not only on research and development but also on design. The model was called RDD. Under


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Mr. Subbarao as a director, TRDDC focused on carrying on applied research that woulddirectly impact industry. The importance of TRDDC in the growth of TCS could be measuredthrough the number of projects TRDDC added value in TCS.

Earlier people from TSC were reluctant to accept involvement of TRDDC in their projects

but gradually It was accepted and became an important part. TCS developed researchpartnerships with Stanford, Georgia tech and several UK universities to nurture appliedresearch. People were encouraged to take higher degrees.

Strategy and Innovation

Mr. Ramadorai introduced collegiate team atmosphere in TSC during his tenure as CEO.He introduced new roles like chief Technology officer. Strategy huddle group was formedwith the mantra LearnActDeploy. TSC focused on achieving innovation as the secondstage of Research, Design and Development (RDD). TCS formally launched the Co-innovation Network (COIN) in 2007. It included academia, venture capitalists etc. Culture ofInnovation is part of the organizational culture of TCS.

The Globalization of TCS

Generally, companies begin their businesses in home countries and gradually expand to othernations; however, the scenario was different for TCS. Absence of domestic market madeTSC expand its business globally since the beginning. Recruiting high caliber professionalshelped TCS gain customers confidence and more and more business. TCSs partnership withGE to establish Offshore Development Centre at Seepz, Mumbai helped TCS to establish itscredentials and confidence in going global process. TCS could expand its business not only inUSA but also in Europe.

Creation of One TCS

TCS was not very organized when Ramadorai became CEO. It was vague and bit of mess inits structure. It was ironical as when TCS helping its client in integrating, it itself wasdisintegrated. TCS came up with Ultimatix project a project worth $40 million. It digitizedall the processes and created a system that was slick, real time and scalable. Ultimatix anacronym for Ultimate System was a state-of-the-art of system then and it brought together onone platform, all the employees, stakeholders, projects, clients etc.

Inorganic Growth through AcquisitionsTCS established its inorganic growth through acquisitions mainly in the last decade. The

prominent one was 51 % stake in CMC, which had strong research based organizationculture. It was followed by Chile based company Comicrom, Australian company Financial

Network Services, Teknosoft in Switzerland and tata infotech from Tata sons. All theseacquisitions had long term goals and implications.

To improve employee morale and to change the position of option to aspiration in customers

minds, TSC came up with an aggressive branding strategy apart from acquisitions inRamadorais era.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

1. Philosophy


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TCS has always believed in the philosophy of introducing structured changes periodicallyand not just when the need arose. In their own words, they dont believe in waiting till

something has broken down to fix it. Rather, the focus has always been on keeping yourselfup to date with the future goals and the vision in mind. The result of this thinking has beenthe periodic re-casting they have done with time, firstly implemented in 1996, and followed

subsequently by 1999, 2003, 2008 and finally in 2012.

The endeavour is to create an organization for the future and the key themes that have beenaddressed are future relevance, simplicity in design and understanding, agility of response,

proactive nature in comprehending market and customer requirements, offering opportunitiesfor exceptional growth, excellence of delivery mechanisms, and end-to-end ownership interms of leadership building and the creation and retaining of talent.

The idea is to craft a totally independent industry solution unit, whether in banking orinsurance or financial services, that are clearly customer focused. These units are responsiblefor their customers, they own the intellectual property they generate and its delivery, theyown the balance sheet with regard to profitability, and they have their own HR and finance

people. These units are seen as autonomous, accountable to themselves first and foremost,handling about 5,000 people each. In that way, the things become much more manageable inevery respect.

2. Mechanism and ImplementationThere has been a conscious effort in creation of units which are devoted to emerging markets,whether in Russia, the Middle East or Latin America, to the development of future-orientedinitiatives and models in the domain of small and medium businesses, to pursuing new

businesses in mature markets such as the United States and Britain, and lastly to developingintellectual assets in the financial services sphere that can later be licensed.

There has also been an effort to provide more freedom and autonomy to these different unitsand the people who are heading them. These leaders have been identified, more clearly thanever before, as the brand builders- the true ambassadors of what TCS stands for. A sharedservices division has also been started that can be accessed and used by the entireorganization- which would be working in areas such as quality, payroll and support functions.At the corporate level, overseeing the organization and managing its progress will becomeeasier thanks to the introduction of digitization.

In this way, this new structure provides a lot more empowerment, a lot more accountabilityand ownership, a lot more leadership opportunities to the company as well its employees in

facing future challenges and also continuing on its growth, guided and aided by thecompanys vision and values.

The appointment of the new CEO, Mr. N Chandrasekaran, has also seen the implementationof several important organizational changes, such as creation of a small group of leaders tooversee the company's various verticals. These leaders will report directly to him and willtake charge of businesses with sizes ranging from few hundred millions of dollars to over a

billion. The new layer is aimed at freeing up the CEO's time for strategy issues and customercalls, people with knowledge of the development said.

The new structure will also provide more management bandwidth and allow leaders to

engage with customers closely. More importantly, the leadership layer also offers a newcareer path into roles with more responsibility and a larger P&L for TCS' existing pool of


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leaders, which did not exist prior to the reorganisation, said a person aware of the changes.Bringing 2-3 verticals under one person will help make people talk across verticals, ratherthan function in silos- another important advantage.

ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY

1. NationalityObviously, which all such grand plans and policies to be implemented and followed, thenature and diversity of the organization needs to be carefully analysed and taken into account.With an organization bosting of 250,000 employees of 113 different nationalities in 42countries, the task becomes even more challenging. According to Dr. Ritu Anand, who,

besides looking after global talent management also handles the diversity and inclusionportfolio at TCS, if anything is challenging, then this is it.

Approximately 8 percent of TCSers are non-Indian nationals Americans, British,Europeans, Latin Americans, Chinese citizens and others. With the company expanding itsglobal footprint, TCS has started hiring experts locally in most of the countries it operates.While the bulk of employees continue to be Indians, TCS expects the percentage of non-Indians to increase steadily over the years. A step in that direction is hiring from campusesglobally. Though it is acknowledged as challenging to embrace the cultural diversity in nonEnglish speaking countries due to issues of language, laws and regulations and understandingthe local culture, TCS has ensured that there are strategy systems in place to ensure a goodmix of nationalities at all levels and keeping them on the same plane as far as organizationaleffectiveness goes.

One of such initiatives was Culture meter. To ensure greater integration among its

culturally-diverse employee pool, TCS launched Culture Meter in 2008 on its intranet. We

profile different countries in a lively way, says Dr Anand, describing the initiative. CultureMeter talks about the country, its culture, dos and donts, and TCSs business information

about that country. We have home page corners on our intranet where senior leaders writeabout their experiences in different countries.

Apart from this, another scheme that has been in place is Maitree, that was launched about

10 years ago. Maitree (friendship), is a global platform for employees and their familymembers to join the caring and sharing culture of TCS. Maitree brings TCsers and theirfamilies together in shared interests through various activities such as dance, music,

photography, books, hobby clubs, nature-walks, and trekking. There are calendar eventsacross geographies in TCS. For example, in a particular month, Family Day is celebratedacross all locations. Being a global organisation, it is also important that employees relate tointernational celebrations. So TCS has celebrations that are specific to the culture of thegeography such as Thanksgiving, Chinese New Year, and others.

TCS also has a Foreign Language Initiatives (FLI) group which focuses on culturalintegration and language training. Some examples are cultural workshops, English-languageteaching program for its non-English-speaking employees, and program for expatriates tolearn the local languages.

2. Gender


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There is another side to diversity which has always been a sensitive topic, namely genderdiversity. With regards to this, TCS has made it clear in its vision that it not only encouragesdiversity only in terms of nationality but also on gender. It has established a platform calledDiversity and Womens Network (DAWN), which sensitizes emplo yees and makes themculturally aware. Its intent is to sharpen focus and heighten sensitivity on the diversity

mandate across the various geographies and business units and it brings all activities underone banner. Guided by an advisory council, with representatives from various operating units,it serves as a collaborative platform for debate, dialogue and direction. Research indicatesthat gender diversity has a direct impact on performance of organizations. Women are alsosignificant customers, investors and employees in the community today. Therefore, there aremany ways in which this group can impact and influence business.

Over the last five years, TCS has seen the number of women employees increase from 25percent to 31 percent. Nearly 38 percent of the employees at the junior level are women.However, with many of them leaving, due to personal reasons, by the time they reach mid-level management positions, women only constitute 11 percent of the strength at senior

management levels. This figure stills remains a benchmark for the industry in India accordingto Dr Anand.

The company also has a successful reorientation program for women who return to their jobsafter a break. We appoint a mentor or an advisor for every woman to quickly acclimatize her

to the new environment after a long break, says Dr Anand, adding that TCS also has a

leadership development program called 'TCS Forward' primarily for women associates.

There have been some recent developments as far as modification of DAWN has beenconcerned, with some important additions having taken place. To empower talented womenand help them realize their potential, an executive education program was launched this year.The aim is to help them become more self-aware, develop a personal brand and get a betterinsight into the larger organizational context. This initiative attempts to help TCS build amore sustainable leadership pipeline and retain and engage with extraordinary women talent.

ORGAINIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

1. International PracticesThere have been several initiatives taken to improve upon the organizational effectiveness inthe recent years, and a lot of them have paid off rich dividends as far as the company growth

and meeting its goals have been concerned. For example, just very recently, Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) was rated the Netherlands top information and communications technology

employer of the year. The award underlined the high quality of TCS human resourcepractices, focusing on personal growth and development of its employees worldwide. Strongemployee involvement in social initiatives such as the TCS Amsterdam Marathon, whichraised funds to fight cancer, reinforces the sense of belonging to a socially responsibleorganisation. TCS remains committed to investing in a work culture built on social values,continuous learning, trust, empowerment and team work to bring out the best in their people,allowing them the opportunity to realize their potential, according to D.P. Nambiar, theDirector and Head, Human Resources of TCS Europe.

2. PROPEL


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In other related recent initiative, the company introduced an HR initiative titled PROPEL - aglobal associate engagement program initiated by Tao Consultants. These are individualemployee meetings across functions and grades. PROPEL was introduced as a revolutionaryintervention with the dual objectives of facilitating the exchange of ideas and helping inimmediate problem solving, while also encouraging bonding and self-development among

and within teams. As the organization and its relationships grew, it brought its ownchallenges, whereas change remained a constant. PROPEL was introduced as a platform anda tool to help bring about this change, in consonance with the TCS belief of Let us make it a

joy for all our stakeholders.

In this program, associates get to talk directly one-on-one with the senior management. Inessence, the aim of PEEP is to provide employees a platform to voice their problems. As forreporting heads, its a platform to get to know their team members as well. The employeescan talk one-on-one with the senior management at TCS. Associates can have their ownsessions with the management and get to know the managements perspective on things.

PROPEL was introduced as a revolutionary intervention with the dual objectives offacilitating the exchange of ideas and helping in immediate problem solving, while alsoencouraging bonding and self-development among and within teams. As the organization andits relationships grew, it brought its own challenges, whereas change remained a constant.PROPEL was introduced as a platform and a tool to help bring about this change, inconsonance with the TCS belief of Let us make it a joy for all our stakeholders.

PROPEL has helped the organization build a culture of collaboration, creativity and alsonetworks of relationships through its two modes:

Confluences: Listening to the voice of the employee in a team scenario, by creating a

platform for open sharing of thoughts on a relevant theme. This is achieved through a

balance of fun, introspection and interaction, while evoking commitment to self-

development.

Camps: Platform for problem solving, focus on the Quality, Cost and Delivery

measures of throughput resulting in transfer and adoption of best practices within and

amongst relationships in the organization.

3. Value CardsValue card for the relationship was a fallout of the analysis of tensions existing in the fourdimensions as represented by Voice of Customer, Strategy, Employee and Technology. Atool called Value Card was used to analyze the problems faced by the relationship in

relation to these tensions and to arrive at workable solutions to the identified problems,within designated timeframes. The Value Card helped to effectively capture and track thisthrough the following steps:

The situation summary was charted out

Improvement goals, action plans and owners of each plan were identified

Success measures were identified against the dimensions of Valuing, Strategizing,Improving, for each actionable, along with timeframe for closure


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Impact was analyzed in terms of short term and long-term actions.

Value Card deployment has substantially helped the relationship to retain its Account ofChoice status.

4.

Darpan

With aggressive expansion and dispersion of ever-growing associate strength in therelationship, communication or the lack of it, had emerged as one of the biggest bottlenecksin employee motivation and managerial decision-making. In this context, an associatesatisfaction survey at relationship level christened Darpan, was initiated, with the objective toReflect and Improve at the relationship level through a better understanding of the explicit

and implicit expectations of associates. A Questionnaire was used to collect the preliminarydata, as a structured mechanism to capture associate feedback across 5 categories: Career &Job, Communication, Culture & Pride, Leadership and Supervisor. The Survey comprised 20questions related to leadership, communication, culture and pride, career, supervisor, work

environment, competency building, work-life balance etc. Interestingly, the maximumnumber of questions revolved around the single most important entity - the Supervisor.This was in consonance with several studies which reveal this as the pivotal factor toassociate satisfaction and aspiration.

5. Other InitiativesThere have been some other initiatives taken as well to improve upon the organizationaleffectiveness, which has been mentioned below:

Initiatives deployed Summary

Account Excellence Plan Initiative on the lines of TBEM. Scoring is done under each ofthe 7 categories and the score shared across the relationship, toidentify gaps and action on these.

Nakshaktra Award This is a Reward and Recognition initiative within therelationship. Nakshatra is awarded to encourage star performersfor each month within each Business Unit of the relationship.The unique feature of this initiative is that even team memberscan nominate their peers.

In Touch Is an interaction / mentorship initiative with the lead of therelationship, wherein a certain timeframe is decided upon,during which any employee can walk in to meet the lead anddiscuss out any problems/ suggestions for improvement in therelationship.

Fun@ Relationship level This was initiated to bring in a spirit of team camaraderie and toact as a stress buster. There are champions within each unit who

drive these fun activities in the relationship.


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SMART ORGANIZATION THEORY:Smart organization theory explains how to build, staff, and operate smart organizations.

There are 19 theories in this area which explains the governance and decision makingprocess. They are broadly classified into

People theories

Organizational-process theories

Culture formation theories

People Theories:Theories which postulate greater organizational intelligence as a function of people in theorganization and how they relate to each other and include:

(1) Creative individual theory - the theory there are a small number of innovativeindividuals who can make and stimulate major policy or product breakthroughs and that the

problem is to find and hire them (Chandler, 1962, Chap. 6);

(2) Interpersonal chemistry theory the hypothesis that organizational efficiency and/oreffectiveness come because specific people just mesh and work well together as a team(McGregor, 1966);

(3) New blood theory the idea that resources are needed to continually hire skilled newpeople who bring fresh ideas or first-hand knowledge of what other people are doing.

(4) Role constellation theories the argument that a mix of skills and age, that is, goodadministrators, good mid-career researchers, good support staff, and bold young researchers,

Toast Master Club/Lets

TalkThe main objective is to enhance personality/communicationability of associates in the relationship and to help them gainconfidence through sessions by certified facilitators.

Open House/ Town halls The objective was to encourage strategic communication, and todiscuss the larger vision and achievements at relationship levelwith all employees across the Business Units. This also serves asa platform for recognizing good performers and celebratingmilestone achievements.

Associate SatisfactionSurvey (Darpan)

To gain an insight into the strengths and weaknesses in therelationship and identify areas for improvement and next stepsthrough PROPEL camps

Walk the talk A senior associate within the relationship takes any new joineeto the relationship, on a tour of the facility. The aim of thisinitiative is to make the new entrant feel valued. This is followed

by a simple quiz to check the effectiveness of this initiative.


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are all needed for unsolved and heretofore unsolvable problems, along with gray heads(experience) to provide a sense of memory, perspective, and advice.

(5) Peer competition theories - contrary to the strict interpretation of Taylorism, designingredundant work units with peer competition may increase motivation and reduce error

(Landau, 1969/1978).(6) Impact opportunity theory - the hypothesis that the best new people gravitate toimportant problems where the action is, so being concerned with such problems should leadorganization to attracting people who will help.

(7) Leadership theory - the belief that when top leadership is no longer satisfied with thestatus quo and promotes search for innovation, it is more likely to occur (March & Simon,1958, Zaltman, Duncan, & Holbek, 1973 pp. 153-186).

Organizational-Process Theories:Theories which relate intra-organizational functioning to the policy or product innovationprocess and include:

(8) Critical mass theory - organizations need enough people working together on a problemto be intellectually self stimulating and self sustaining (the number is unclear) (H. Levinson,1972).

(9) Heterodoxy theory - believes that a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and skills inresearch increases creativity and enhances the probability of organizational success.

(10) Environmental Competition theory - the hypothesis that learning occurs more rapidly

in highly competitive fields by changing processes internal to organizations (e.g., Niskanen,1979).

(11) Communication flow theories - a diverse body of literature that proposes innovationrates are increased by particular patterns of communication and by networks of institutionsand intra-institutional structures that create and support them.

(12) Specialized group process technology theories - the alleged advantage to those groupswhich use brainstorming, Delphi, synectics, etc. (e.g., Stein, 1974, Vol. 2).

(13) Administrative structure theories - the alleged advantage of standard organizationalunits to handle R & D responsibilities.

(14) Rational technology and analytic decision theories - organizations which commitheavily to advanced rational analyses (systems modeling, operations research, PPB,evaluation studies, etc.) are said to learn more rapidly;

(15) Money theory - the more money and other resources the better.

Culture Formation Theories:These theories can be seen as extending what Barnard (1938) originally discussed as theintegration of formal and informal organizational behaviors (and relevant environmental

characteristics) in the molding of a particular set of bureaucratic routines, values,understandings, identities, and worldviews (Kaufman, 1960; Packenham, 1973) to create and


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sustain organizational cultures and subcultures (Fine & Kleinman, 1979). The study oforganizational culture and norms is not well developed, but it is perhaps crucial tounderstanding bureaucratic learning if the findings of Argyris (1967), Argyris and Schon(1978), and the report of Coleman, Campbell, Hobson, McPortland, Mood, Weinfeld, & York(1966) generalize across federal agencies. Culture theories include

(16) Optimum norm theory - the belief that certain organizations create cultures andclimates especially conducive to research; these are typically thought (in America) to beopen, egalitarian, problem-oriented rather than status or career centered, and achievementcultures rather than ascriptive cultures.

(17) Newcomer theory - the hypothesis that major innovations come from new, fresh,typically small firms.

(18) Technology theory - the view that technology creates culture, for example, that newtechnologies drive R & D processes and change organizations in their wake (see below , pp.123-124) and create professionalism which increases innovation.

(19) Synergistic harmony theories - the extent to which organizational design practicesalign individual risks and incentives with those of the organization (Argyris & Schon, 197 8;Cherns, 1977; Mohr, 1973; Wildavsky, 1978).


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TCS LEADERSHIP TEAMS THOUGHT PROCESS:

The modular structure will simplify our interface

with customers and drive agility in all areas of

operations. The structure will also allow us to

adapt to specific customer and marketrequirements while ensuring a uniform global

service delivery, In the new operating model, all

necessary delivery, domain and technology

expertise and resources will be embedded in these

units to promote greater collaboration with the

customer. All operating units will be supported bya common group of organizational infrastructure

units, such as the Technology Excellence, ProcessExcellence, Resource Management, and Shared

Services groups.

The new structure will also support greater focus

for strategic initiatives that will help drive non-

linear revenue growth. In addition to TCS

Financial Solutions, and the Small & Medium

Business Solutions, the company has constituted a

new unit for Platform BPO Solutions. These three

Strategic Growth Businesses will operate asindependent units that will leverage TCS sales,

delivery and customer relationships as required.

- N. Chandrasekaran,- COO and Executive Director

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will

be undergoing a real structuraltransformation by changing its

business mix that will not happen in a

day but take a few years. For this TCS

has identified five main growth areas -

products, BPO, infrastructure,

engineering services and consulting.We want to scale up each one of these

- N. Chandrasekaran,- Executive vice president and

global head of sales andoperations


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EVOLUTION OF ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE IN TCS:

PRE-2000:

Prior to Year 2000; TCS organization was broadly divided into two major spectrums

Computer Consultancy

Management Consultancy

Out of a total strength of 3500 people in 1995 all the engineering brains were part ofComputer Consultancy and their focus was to concentrate on IT delivery. The delivery modelwas primarily off-shore driven. All the people with management degree as a backgroundconstituted Management Consultancy and their primary role was focused sales andmarketing, HR and administration. The ratio of these two broad categories was 90:10.

Then came the Year-2000 era where the requirement at overseas was on top. TCS as anorganization was experimenting with off-shore, onsite model and it was a click. Theorganization was increasing its person power at a large scale. To address the GLOBAL Y2K

issue the factory model was adopted into the software delivery; round the clock workingculture was introduced but still the broad division remained the same.

Many years ago, there was an

industrial revolution. We

(India) missed it due to

(factors over) which we had

no control. Today, there is anew revolution - a revolution

in information technology,

which requires neither

mechanical bias normechanical temperament.

Primarily, it requires the

capability to think clearly.

This we have in abundance.

We have an opportunity even

to assume leadership. If we

miss this opportunity, thosewho will follow us will not

forgive us for our tardiness

and negligence."

- FC Kohli, Ex DeputyChairman of TCS

(Prior to Y2K)

Tata Consultancy Services, the leading IT services,

business solutions and outsourcing organization hasannounced plans to organize its global operations

into integrated, customer-centric units to enhance

customer focus drive operational agility and address

new growth opportunities in the market. The newglobal operating model will provide customers with a

single view of TCS encompassing project delivery andrelationship management and enable a sharper focus

on the customer. This structure will also provide more

opportunities for leadership growth at all levels in the

organization and encourage the next generation of

leaders by empowering group heads to run their unit

with growth and profit responsibilities. As we scale

up over 100,000 employees, TCS needs a structure

that allows us to build a nimble organization to

capture new growth opportunities, said This will

create a framework that is scalable for growth acrossmarkets and provide focus on strategic initiatives like

asset leveraged solutions, platform-based BPO aswell other new initiatives.

- S. Ramadorai, CEO and MD.

(Thought process in 2007-08)


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POST-2000:After the Year-2000 glitches were fixed and issue addressed globally; suddenly there was asharp decrease in the demand for IT professionals and organizations like TCS who had astrong person power base was finding it difficult to keep their associates occupied withsufficient work. Immediately after 911 attacks on USA; the onsite requirement took a nose

dive and TCS faced a major challenge to cope with it. With the thought leadership in placeTCS quickly adapted to a different business model; the matrix structure came into existence.The entire human capitals with more than six years of experience were fitted to a particularcell of the following matrix.

BFSI RETAIL MANUFACTURING TELECOM MEDIA &

ENTERTAINMENT

UTILITIES OTHERS

ADM

L&D

R&D

ISIT

SupportServices

Where,

ADM: Application Development and Maintenance

L&D: Learning and Development

R&D: Research and Development

ISIT: Information Technology Infrastructure Services

Support Services: Include HR, Administration, Finance, Legal etc.

This model of operation allowed TCS to build up functional domain specific knowledgepiling up with the expectation to provide edge over the competitors. This era was primarilyused by TCS to build up knowledge and create experience and maximum provisioning donefor Research and Development TRDDC center at Pune was established; Learning andDevelopment center at Trivendram was given focus to train the incoming engineeringstudents who were inducted into TCS through campus recruitment.

2003-2007:The world IT business started gaining momentum again on early months of 2003; whereoverseas customers started outsourcing their IT activities. TCS gained maximum benefit outof this openings because of the strategic move they took post Y2K. The requirement this timewas huge and across verticals and TCS was having the bandwidth to support. The humancapital of TCS has reached 1, 00, 000 plus. To bring in the customer confidence Globaloperations started with offices established at different parts of the world and global man

power was recruited enabling the social buy-in and better execution of deals. The concept ofNear-shoringwas introduced; where by development centers were established at locationsnearer to the customers and this created a good feeling among the customers. In all the majorrelationships the mode of operation changed a gear from Customer ~ Vendor to Customer ~Partner. Towards the later part of year-2007, the changing global economic pressure was felt

and thought leadership team at TCS started concentrating on performance driven execution ofwork and the ground work was being done to go for another major organizational structural


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change. During this era the major highlight was merger and acquisition of organizations withTCS there by bringing in more complexities into the TCS organization structure.

POST-2007:

Operationally, TCS is a modular organization comprising solution units focused on various

industry verticals to enhance the customer focus. The figure below represents the new TCSorganization structure post 2007.

TCS is structured into customer-centric Industry Solutions Units (ISUs) that focuson various industry verticals. ISUs are equipped with the necessary domain andtechnology expertise to service customers efficiently and seamlessly. These ISUs

provide end-to-end services to customers and also cater to the niche/uniquebusiness needs of each of the segments while leveraging synergies that appearacross them. TCS leverages pertinent subject matter expertise from differentindustry verticals such as BFSI, Retail, Media and Information Services, and soon, where there is a reasonable intersection.

Major Markets are business units responsible for the sales process within NorthAmerica, UK and Europe.

TCS supports the unique business needs of India, APAC, and Emerging Marketssuch as Africa, Middle East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe through its

New Growth Market units. These units handle both sales and operations functionsfor these regions.

Strategic Growth Businesses include

o Small and Medium Business Solutions that provides IT as a Service solutions for small and medium businesses.

o TCS platform-based BPO solution provides platform-based BPO servicesfor its customers.


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o TCS Financial Solutions offers a set of product-based solutions.

Engineering and Industrial Services (EIS), Information Technology InfrastructureServices (ISIT), and Business Process Outsourcing Services (BPO), and GlobalConsulting Practice services are delivered by horizontal delivery groups.

Organizational Infrastructure includes corporate groups such as:

o Process Excellence Group (PEG): Responsible for consolidating processesand best practices and disseminating them to various operating unitstowards providing a unique and consistent customer experience. Thisincludes Knowledge Management, Integrated Quality ManagementSystem, Business Excellence and Security.

o Technology Excellence Group (TEG): Responsible for lendingorganizational focus to the technology, solutions, and tools. TCS directionin this area is to maintain our leadership position by continuously

improving solution delivery capability through architectural excellence,design rigor, delivery discipline, and by championing technologyapplicability. The group is responsible for the technology tracking,internalization, competency building, and asset creation.

o Shared Service Group: Responsible for planning and provisioningtechnology and operational infrastructure for TCS.

o Resource Management Group: Responsible for the availability, readiness,and optimal deployment of resources for all operating units.

These operating units are supplemented by Corporate Finance, Corporate

Marketing, Global Human Resources, Corporate Affairs, Research andDevelopment and Corporate Technology Office, Partner Alliances, and Legaldepartments.

SMART THEORY AND EVOLVING TCS ORGANIZATION

STRUCTURE:

SMART THEORY TCS ADAPTABILITY

Creative individual theory TCS was always since the day of inceptioncarrying a good number of individuals who were

great leaders who guided the organization toformulate appropriate policies for the benefit ofthe organization

Interpersonal chemistrytheory TCS started as a project based organization and

slowly matured and in the process everybodyworked in TEAMS. Team spirit has alwayscontributed to the organizational efficiency

New blood theory The organization has grown from 3500 in 1995 to140000 in 2009. The growth is phenomenal and it


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was only made possible by inducting freshengineers/ management students into the mainstream and the process is continuous.

Role constellation theories In TCS the average age could be low but the

mixture is well formulated; with senior peopletaking the leadership role and mid-career persons

supporting the delivery and fresh blood executingthe defined task.

Peer competition theories Pressure from peer competition is always there inthe TCS work structure. Attaching performance

parameter to it though creates pressure butdefinitely enable motivation to make everybody

Impact opportunity theory So far TCS is always an organization where yourwork is appreciated and that is the motivatingfactor of younger generation to join thisorganization and grow.

Leadership theory The leadership team is TCS is always dynamicand looks for opportunities of research anddevelopment.

Critical mass theory Presence of excellence centers and logical forumsin TCS provide the bandwidth to allow a group of

people to work on specific issues to arrive atsolution

Heterodoxy theory Different viewpoints are always encouraged to beexpressed and the team structure is global; thereare situations where people from different

continents form the TEAM and deliver a productwhich might be used at a completely differentcontinent.

Environmental Competition

theory

Presence of strong and closed internal processes

to enable the rapid learning process. One singleportal www.ultimatix.net manages 140000associates from recruitment to exit

Communication flow theories TCS believes in open communication and thereare formal and informal channels ofcommunication established within theorganization. A special corporate communicationTEAM drives the communication of TCS withexternal world.

Specialized group process Availability of technology to enable the thought


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technology theories process in decision making.

Administrative structure theories Dedicated Research and Development Team anda center dedicated for Research at Pune(TRDDC), India.

Rational technology and analyticdecision theories

TCS has become a learning organization andprobably because of this it has changed itsorganization structure from time to time; betteradaptability with environmental changes.

Money theory Financially a strong company and become public

in 2004-2005. None of the project executionstopped on the account of there being no moneyto spend.

Optimum norm theory Highly research oriented with delivery flavorattached to it. So this is a unique place whereresearch comes with deadline.

Newcomer theory Not Applicable

Technology theory Technology is a part of TCS environment andevery TCSer contribute to make the technologymore stronger everyday..

Synergistic harmony theories Any system designed for TCS has the synergistic

approach build into it. It matches the incentiveswith the individual risks in the process.

TCS ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE DEPICTING POSITIONS:Tata Consultancy Services has organized its global operations into integrated, customer-centric units to enhance customer focus, drive operational agility and address new growthopportunities in the market. This global operating model provides customers with a singleview of TCS encompassing project delivery and relationship management and enables asharp focus on the customer.

The modular structure simplifies the TCS interface with customers and drives agility in allareas of operations. It also allows TCS to adapt to specific customer and market requirementswhile ensuring a uniform global service delivery. All necessary delivery, domain andtechnology expertise and resources are embedded in Independent Operating Units to promotegreater collaboration with the customer.

The structure also provides opportunities for leadership growth at all levels in theorganization, and encourages the next generation of leaders by empowering Group Heads torun their respective units with growth and profit responsibilities.

All operating units are supported by a common group of organizational infrastructure units

Technology Excellence, Process Excellence, Resource Management, and Shared Services.


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The TCS Corporate Organization Chart is depicted below:

CONCLUSION:Considering the organizational growth process as a dependent function of time; TCS as anorganization seems to have adapted the SMART theories of organization and systematicallyfollowing it since its inception. The thought leadership has been successful in penetrating theOrganizations vision and mission statement into the mass. The organization has been

through non-linear growth process since last couple of years; and the organization structurehas been changed dynamically to meet this non-linear growth process.

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