Effective Leadership at Zensar Technologies: Riding the Wave of Change - Case Study Example

Effective Leadership at Zensar Technologies: Riding the Wave of Change Introduction Zensar is a technology outsourcingfirms based in India. The firm provides IT services to foreign firms across the work world. In the last one and a half decades, the firm has seen tremendous growth under the leadership of CEO Natrajan. Under his leadership, the firm went under a number of transformations both in terms of its organizational structure as well as its human resource structure. 1. What is the model of change that Natrajan has followed to bring success at Zensar? Model of change While it may be difficult to tell with accuracy the model of change that Natrajan has used, the model he used is very similar to Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model. This model has 8 fundamental key steps, most of which can be seen in the Natrajan’s model of change. The model included the following aspects that are available in the Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model mole of change: Increase the urgency for change Once Natrajan joined Zensar, he noticed that there were several issues that needed to be changed in order for the firm’s future to be secured. In this case, he tried to insure the urgency of change was recognized by everyone in the company, from the managers to the employees at the subordinate levels. Building a team dedicated to change Natrajan realized that he could not be able to implement the change alone; he needed a team that would help him make the change possible. Natrajan recognized that introducing change, in a firm like Zensar, would not be an easy task. In this case, he tried to get collaboration with other managers in order for the bid for change to be possible. Create the vision for change The third state of Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model is the creation of a vision. This is where Natrajan did very well. Natrajan realized that without a clear vision of change, it was almost impossible for the firm to ever acquire any change, especially due to its human resource structure that was hardly sufficient to create a cohesive environment. Natrajan also made sure that everyone was aware of the vision of change so that they could all participate effectively in order to make sure that everybody was part of the vision. This was important for the firm, as everybody needed to be involved in the vision. As identified in the case study, employees at Zensar had low morality levels, due to the nature of the human resource structure that led to most of them being idle most of the time1. By including them into the vision for change, this not only has increased the change that the envisioned change would materialize, but also made sure that the employees were motivated and the human resource department was rejuvenated. Communicate the need for change The other mechanism Natrajan used was to communicate in a clear manner so that everybody in the firm could be able to understand the vision. Each employee, right from the lowest levels up to the highest, was informed about the vision and what it needed to achieve for the firm. Empower staff with the ability to change Natrajan empowered the staff by initially making sure that the human resource was restructured in a way that there would no longer be idle employees waiting to be deployed to international work sites. Furthermore, Natrajan has also created an environment where each employee had a say and their ideas and expertise was well received. The employees were empowered through a forum, the Vision Community forum. This can be very important in creating a vibrant workforce that will drive the firm to greater heights2. Create short-term goals Natrajan tried to insure that he created both short and long-term goals. Natrajan realized that long-term goals couldn’t be achieved without short-term goals. In this case, he used both short term and long-term goals that would help the firm change from the depraved situation it was in to the successful firm it later came to be. Stay persistent and make the change permanent Of course, there can be no use to have some changes if these changes are not going to be maintained3. According to Cotter’s 8-step change model, the last two steps in change management are staying permanent. Once the change has been achieved, the next step is to make sure that the change is maintained. This is what Natrajan did. Once he had achieved the positive change, he made sure that this change was maintained, while at the same time looking for more opportunities to help change for improvement. 2. How did the CEO reposition the role of HR within the organizational structure? Natrajan realized that the human resource is the most important asset that the firm had. He also realized that this department was not being used properly. The key reason was due to the business structure. As identified in the case, Zansar’s main work was to outsource IT professionals to international sites. This business strategy led to most of the human resource department to sit idle in the main office. Natrajan was not impressed with this because this indicated that the firm was not efficient and this was affecting its productivity and profitability. To overcome this, Natrajan started in-house produce development; so that the staff that would not be actively engaged in any international site would be working on a project within the head office. This increased productivity as well as the new structure is what made it possible for the series of growth that the firm achieved. By having some products being developed in the head office as opposed to only depending on outsourcing IT labor to international sites, the firm was able to increase productivity aside from the growth of the business. Natrajan also transformed the human resource by empowering them right from the lowest employees to the highest within the department. This led to energetic human resources, where every employee was motivated and empowered to work harder for the improvement of the firm. Prior to Natrajan arriving at the firm, the human resource department was dull and its employees did not see themselves as part of the firm. In fact, this led to most of them seeking for career growth elsewhere, and this led to high levels of turnover. 3. Should Zensar consider becoming a Tier 15Company or should it stay with Tier 2 status? Zensar should consider the decision to become a first ranked company as opposed to remaining second. Whereas already seen in the case study, when Zensar started developing in-house products as opposed to just depending on outsourcing IT labor to international sites, it was able to improve its business tremendously. This is an indication that the firm will be richer becoming a first ranked firm instead of remaining as second, which will help the firm in the following ways; Get more acceptance as a local firm Zensar will be able to get more acceptance as a local firm in the Indian market by becoming the first ranked firm and liberate itself from its mother firm. As identified in the case study, it is very evident that the Indian government in its bid to encourage local business required foreign firms to dilute their stakeholders in order for them to have more local ownership. This trend is likely to continue, as firms that will have full local ownership will have more opportunities such as getting local tenders. In this regard, it is beneficial for Zensar to become a local firm and the only way for this to happen is by releasing itself from the foreign mother firm. Be able to get more business Currently Zensar mostly depends on international jobs for its business, and this may have a negative impact on the firm in the future. In the meantime, the business opportunities are heading for growth and it is going to be necessary for Zensar to be able to continue the growth of its opportunities. However, as it is now, Zensar may not be able to take up opportunities in full. Becoming a first ranked firm may position Zensar at a point where it will be able to take up these opportunities. It is necessary to know that in the last few decades, India as an economy has achieved tremendous growth and this measures more opportunities. These opportunities can only be exploited by the businesses that are fully Indian. In this regard, changing the firm’s rank will be further important for the firm and staying tied to the foreign mother firm may act as interference. It is also crucial to know that while India has been a destination for outsourcing especially in IT services, that Zensar specializes in, this trend may not continue forever. Western firms are finding other places to outsource their IT services, leading to opportunities that Zensar has enjoyed for a long time, to not always be able to be there continually. In this case, becoming a first ranked firm may help Zensar to prepare itself for a new direction in strategy that will make Zensar manage these new changes in the market. Strategy development is about observing at how the future will look then planning about today. This is what Zensar should be doing today. Zensar should be able to look at what the Indian business will become tomorrow, then be able to align itself according to this future. Be able to develop its one strategy Regardless of how much freedom a subsidiary firm may be given by its mother firm, the corporate strategy of the mother firm will always affect it4. Therefore, it may be important to make sure that Zensar is move up the scale in order for the firm to develop its own independent strategies, that will make it feasible for the firm to take maximum advantage of the opportunities in the market. While it remains as it is, it may be hard to achieve due to it being tied to the strategy of the mother firm. 4. How can the company retain its culture and expand? Maintaining a culture at a time of growth Couture makes a very vital part of any firm5. A firm without a positive culture is as good as a firm with a destructive culture. In this case, Zensar will find itself in a position where it has to deal with growth while trying to maintain its positive culture of innovation and employee engagement. The main challenge for growing firms with regard to retaining their culture is that the larger they get, the more difficult it becomes for them to be able to maintain culture. Zensar can however deal with this issue by making sure that it devolves every unit to the lowest unit. As the human resource grows both in number and geographical locations, as the firm expands to other locations, the firm may want to devolve a centralized human resource function in order to make sure that the human researches are not managed at a central position. If human resources are centralized, it will come a time where the central human resource function will be overwhelmed. To avoid this, the human resource could be devolved to make sure that smaller units are created. Each of these small units can then be able to maintain culture, as small units can be controlled centrally in order to make sure that the culture of Zensar will be easily managed across the units. 5. What kind of Leadership model would be appropriate in the future for Zensar? Zensar will benefit the most from a democratic leadership style. This will help the firm in a number of ways. First, it means that the firm will be able to motivate its employees to be proactive and that the employees are able to give their best with regard to working for the firm. Secondly, it will encourage innovation as the employees are given autonomy in their areas of work. This will be important for the growth of the firm and will make it possible to grow not only in terms of the number of customers it gets, but also in terms of developing its technical capabilities. As has been identified in the case study, it is clear that the problems that Zensar faces is the unsafe high levels of employee turnover, as the employees were seeking their own career development in ways that were not in line with Zensar growth vision. Having a democratic leadership style will make the employees more comfortable at Zensar, as this will increase employee loyalty to the firm, which will later on deal with the issue of turnover. Personal opinion Zensar has proved that it has growth potential that can be used to grow the firm to greater heights. It is necessary for Zensar to be able to start further restructuring its business strategy in order to have more competencies the future. As of now, the firm is depending on over 65% of its revenue from overseas business. It is necessary to start restricting this so that the firm depends more on local revenue as opposed to revenue from outsourcing IT services to international customers. This is because the international market may not have a good future and therefore as it declines, the firm may have financial challenges. Conclusion From Natrajan leadership, it is evident that leadership in any firm is what can drive the firm to success or failure. It is also very evident from this case study that human resource is the life of any business. This is because was able to transform its fortunes in the market by just improving its business. Zensar is a good example of how strategic thinking can help a firm to be successful in the market. Bibliography Bhandarker, Asha & Rai, Sumita. "Effective Leadership At Zensar Technologies: Riding The Wave Of Change." Asia Case reserch Centre (2011): Pp 1-22. Harvard Business School Press. Strategy: Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business. New Yprk, NY: Harvard Business Press, 2013. Kessler, Thomas. The Business of Government: Strategy, Implementation & Results. New York, NY: Management Concepts Inc. 2000. Robbinsm, Stephen. Management. New York, NY: Pearson Higher Education AU, 2011. http://uolbscs.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/management-11th-edn-by-stephen-p-robbins-mary-coulter-pdf-qwerty80.pdf Worsch, Marek. 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