HLC Technology Case Study

Organizational Structure, Culture, and Process

to Support sustain innovation

Siomara Dingle

Unit 2 Assignment 1

Allen Pevoto

In technology, an improvement to something already existing. Distinguishing an element of novelty in an invention remains a concern of patent law. The Renaissance was a period of unusual innovation: Leonardo da Vinci produced ingenious designs for submarines, airplanes, and helicopters and drawings of elaborate trains of gears and of the patterns of flow in liquids. Technology provided science with instruments that greatly enhanced its powers, such as Galileo's telescope. New sciences have also contributed to technology, as in the theoretical preparation for the invention of the steam engine. In the 20th century, innovations in semiconductor technology increased the performance and decreased the cost of electronic materials and devices by a factor of a million, an achievement unparalleled in the history of any technology. (2013)

In the case study Turning Conventional Management Upside Down, Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services company, explores the role of leadership in a knowledge economy. In chapter four of the book he talks about ways the management team and CEO were involved in making a change for the company, specifically the role of the CEO and management. The two initiatives that sparked interest for this discussion are the “My Problems” on page eight of chapter four and “My Blueprint” on page twenty-one of chapter four.

HCLT has done many great things with their company and ensuring that they keep up with the new era and technology. They implemented several initiatives to help employees and the CEO do their job better. One of the things that I liked that they did was to implement My Blueprint. The Blueprint was the gathering of senior manager and they talked about where they were headed in the next five years. This concept got the senior managers talking to others in the company from all over. They got the opportunity to share ideas and find out how they did different aspects of the job. I look at it as sharing best practices. In the company that I work for we do something similar where we share with each other in our site and then partner with our sister sites to share information. Like any idea that is brought to the table of any company you will always have some that do not agree with the idea. Vineet was met with discouragement about the idea. They felt that it was giving away their strategy for the company. They still went through with the plans and received good results from having all levels view the recordings that were done by management. Sometimes when you know that your project or meeting is going to be viewed by upper management and not just your immediate supervisor you make a better presentation. This allowed them to take advantage of the recording and even help colleagues’ view recording that would be beneficial to their department.

They also created a new section called My Problem where the CEO would post questions that he could not answer or was struggling with, and have people to answer the questions for him. This was called My Problem. This allowed employees to send him answers to the problems that he had. Now, as with any company you are not going to get all the answers you want or have them answered logically. I think this was a great opportunity for employees to have their voice heard and cast their opinion. I know working for a major corporation you are not going to make everyone happy or have all the answers you need. Employees may feel if they voice their opinion to someone on their same level they may feel like their issues will be resolved quicker. In the corporation where I work we have a box where peers could leave a question for their leader or upper management. The box is used to get feedback on how well things were going on the floor and among their team. They did not have to leave a name on their question or comment. Like on surveys employees are hesitant to leave their name for fear that they will have repercussions for their comment or concern.

By creating the My Problem section of the portal goes hand in hand with empowering your employees. Joanne B. Ciulla speaks about how empowerment conjures up pictures of inspired and confident people or groups of people who are ready and able to take control of their lives and better the world. (2004) HCLT was empowering their employees to become better employees. This can help them to recognize the power that they have. If at any point they felt like they lost the power that they had can be recovered. We as employees like to know that we are empowered to make decisions and choices. When the power is taken away from us as employees the moral goes down.

Nidumolu, Prahald, and Rangaswani make good points about two enterprisewide initiatives help companies become sustainable. One: When a company’s top management team decides to focus on the problem, change happens quickly. Two: Recruiting and retaining the right kind of people is important. Recent research suggests that three-fourths of workforce entrants in the United States regard social responsibility and environmental commitment as important criteria in selecting employers. People who are happy about their employers’ positions on those issues also enjoy working for them. Thus companies that try to become sustainable may well find it easier to hire and retain talent. (2009) I particularly agree with number tow recruiting and retaining. I have been in my job for roughly fifteen years. I have had the opportunity to see plenty of change happening. One of the biggest things now is retaining our employees. How do we keep them here without losing them to another company that does the same thing that we do? One of the things that we did do was conduct surveys asking employees what it would take to keep them employed with us. What are you looking for when you are looking for employment elsewhere? How can we change your mind and you stay employed with us? One of the biggest concerns was or is money, then it was the concern with the hours that they work. The day shift wanted to move their hours up and those that were on night shift wanted to work days. To compromise on the shift employees are allowed to change their schedules every ninety days. We have a schedule bid that comes out and as long as you have been in your schedule for ninety days you can bid for a new schedule. This made them feel like they were in control of their schedule and it keeps the staffing where is needs to be to handle call volume. They are still allowed to work overtime when there is a need.

HCLT is handling their problems and concerns for the company and employees in a good way. This will take them a long way in innovations and keeping up with technology. Keeping the right people in their jobs and the majority of their employees happy they will be just fine. I am not saying that they will be without problems and not have employees that do not like their jobs. In any job or corporation everything will not be peachy keen. There will be bumps in the road. There will be problems that need to be solved by management or just one on one. The perfect world does not exist. If we were perfect then there would be no need for management. All employees would be on one page. That just might make a boring job. Someone is always going to be on top.

My Problem and the Blueprint are actually good ideas for their company. It would be interesting to know if their initiatives would work in all types of companies or in big corporations. Working in a call center I would like to know if it would work within the corporation that I work in. It would also be interesting to know how HCLT is working now.

Reference

Innovations. In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Hickman, Gill Robinson (2010), Leading Organizations Perspective for a New Era, Ciulla, Joanne B., Chapter 15 Leadership and the Problem of Bogus Empowerment (p195).

Nidumolu, Prahald, and Rangaswani (2009) Why Sustainability Is Now the Key Driver of Innovation, Harvard Business Review, Volume 87, issue 9, p56 – 64.