Organizational Diagnosis: A Case of Infosys, India

Abstract

The study aims to conduct organizational diagnosis at Infosys and to suggest measures of improvement of the same wherever necessary. Data was collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Respondents were selected with the help of random sampling technique. The sample size is 19. The employees are not much clear about their goals and the purpose of the organization. The employees are not satisfied with the current structure and the division of the work in the organization, and also with the current reward mechanism of the organization. However the employees are satisfied with their leaders and their leadership styles. The employees feel that they share a good relationship with their peers. The employees of Infosys have full confidence in the management and they believe that the management is helping them in their career growth. Some of the interventions suggested are as follows: Role Analysis Technique can be used so that the employees get clarity of their goals. As the score suggests that the employees are not happy with the current structure and distribution of the work, mentors can be assigned to the employees who can guide them and can also help the employees to understand the structure and processes better.

1. Introduction

Organization as a system can be changed and developed to achieve its goals in the best possible way. The goals of an organization generally are: survival, stability, profitability, growth and service to society. From one organization to another, the goal or goals may differ depending upon at what stage of development the organization is. Organization can achieve its goal if it is able to respond to changes within the external and internal environment. The external environment is in terms of forces in the social, political, economic and cultural factors. Competition from similar organizations, changing needs of the public, knowledge explosion, rapid growth of technology – all constitute threat to organizational effectiveness. Organization has also to take into cognizance its internal environment which includes existing structure, technology, needs and expectations of its people and the changing scenario of labor force.

The ultimate goal of organizational change and development is to provide a consistent method to follow when change that have significant impact in the business are required to maintain and improve the production environment on a daily basis. The approach helps to identify groups and personnel that must be involved in the change process as well as their responsibilities. Effective management helps to define the artifacts to be used and establishes policies on how change in question is to be implemented. The management also takes into account, the consideration and essence of effective communication of the change to the targeted employee working within the company.

Change happens when an organization changes its overall strategy with hope that the new approach will help steer the organization up the ladder of success. Change can also occur when an organization decides to remove a major section or practice of its business culture or completely change the nature of its operation. CEOs, Managers and top leaders in the organization are always at the forefront to make the necessary efforts to implement successful and significant changes. Some of these top-level leaders are good at identifying and implementing changes, while others always try, struggle, face employee resistance to change and new developments and fail eventually.

Resistance to change is the only terrible setback why change can never happen. More often than not, top-level leaders do not make employees understand the need for change hence the high level of resistance. Resistance to change can come from almost every employee, including the most loyal ones in your organization. If they are not comfortable with the proposed developments and change, they will definitely resists and there are good reasons why. Most leaders fail to bring out the essence of change, its importance and its effect to the general lifeblood of the business hence the resistance from even the most loyal employee the business may have had for years.

Change and development should be undertaken with the purpose of improving the whole or part of the organization, not to instill job insecurities and uncertainties among employees. The main goal should be to improve the work environment, train employees to adapt to the new work environment and focus on training them effectively so that they remain productive in the organization and make the business a success not only within its surrounding but also around and beyond its settings. The change and development must be communicated beforehand so that employees are aware of the developments that are schedule to take place, making them ready to prepare for the transition.

There are five different approached for Managing Organizational Change and Development. These elements include motivating change, creating vision, developing political support, managing the transition and sustaining the momentum. The five elements play the major role in change and development management within an organization. They should therefore be observed for successful implementation of change and new developments.

1.1. Managing Organizational Change and Development

Motivating change: This can be considered the topmost process in the entire lifecycle of change and development. This element considers two processes and they include creating readiness for change and development and overcoming employee resistance to the same. Creating readiness for change involves sensitizing the organization to pressure for change for the good reason of improving the productivity of the organization and making it a better workplace for the employees. Creating a readiness for change helps to identify the gaps between desires and actual state. It should therefore convey positive expectation of the change.

The next part of this element is managing the resistance to change and development. To manage resistance effectively, the CEOs and top-level management group should involve all the members within the organization in planning and decision making, communicate about the change and provide empathy and the required support that will help every member to adapt to the change with ease.

Creating a vision: The best way to start creating a vision is to discover and describe the core ideologies of the organization. The values should provide information to members on what is important in the organization and the reason for the existence of the organization. The next step is to construct the envisioned future; the bold and value outcomes and the desired future state.

Developing political support: You have to assess the power of the change when it comes to developing political support. Proceed to identifying the key stakeholders and then understand how you are going to influence the event of change.

Managing the transition: Change and development must include a section that will help in managing the transition. There must be a structure that outlines activity planning, commitment planning and general management to the transition. It must be a slow process because change and development can never be implemented overnight. Therefore, identify the roadmaps for change and state the reason why prefer following that path.

You should also know whose support you need and where the people whose support is required stand. Come up with an effective strategy that will influence their behavior in a positive manner, so that they support change instead of showing resistance to the change. When it comes to management structure, identify the most suitable arrangement of people and the power that will help to drive change.

Sustaining the momentum: Provide resources for change and build a suitable support system for the change agents. Develop new competencies and skills that can help to reinforce new behavior in the organization. Sustaining the momentum is the last thing you need to consider when it comes to Managing Organizational Change and Development.

1.2. Benefits of a Change Culture in an Organization

Build up competition: Change can be big or small, easy or complex in an organization. Change does not necessarily indicate a major transformation every time. But it can seriously help to build competition, which can help organizations progress and develop themselves. Without change, organizations would struggle to lift up themselves to face the competition put forward by their competitors. Example- When a particular organization changes its way of working and if it attracts more customers, the neighboring competitor will definitely observe the same and would try to bring a change in his usual form of working. Thus, here change plays a very positive role in building up competition which leads to a desire among organizations to develop themselves more than their competitors.

Bring technological advancement: Technology plays a vital role in development of an organization. Change that results from the adoption of new technology is common in most organizations and while it can be disruptive at first, ultimately the change tends to increase productivity and service. To beat the competition, organizations can make use of new technologies. The same, old, obsolete ways of doing things would not work out when the competitors would be moving fast forward with new technologies. It also enables employees to adopt the new technology and indirectly helps in growth of organization. For Example Toyota – the company to emulate in the automobile industry, it has emerged to become one of the most successful organizations in terms of establishing change management.

Develop satisfied customers: Adopting change in organizations can create a certain extent of dissatisfaction among employees and also among customers. But, once change brings in a favorable effect, customers and employees start accepting it. Eventually this change brings satisfied customers which in turn acts positively for customers. As always said, satisfied customer is a boon for every organization. Just a mere tweak in the strategy can do wonders for you. The most famous example being Google – The Google experience is a classic example of a company committed to wowing its customers based on consistent quality and constant innovation over the years.

Eventually, change plays a very positive role in building up competition which leads to a desire among organizations to develop themselves more than their competitors. Also change is an evitable, unavoidable part of any organization. Every organization strives to change and it eventually leads to business excellence.

1.3. Organization Development

Organizational development (OD) simply explained is the process of the systematic planning and implementation of projects and actions in an organization in order to work more efficiently towards its vision. For example, if a company has abundant capital and resources to get the work done, but lacks sufficient manpower, one way of implementing organizational development would be to identify and implement best approaches to talent attraction and retention. If this same company has manpower, but they aren’t as efficient because of certain hindrances, one form of organizational development initiative would be to understand the reasons of non-performance (For instance; lack of clear direction, ineffective organizational processes, inadequate resources, inappropriate leadership styles, faulty organizational structure, lack of team work or credible strategy to name a few) and implement initiative to remove those. Timely identification of real reasons behind nonperformance provides great ideas for improvement. These ideas are also called change themes. These change themes are converted into actionable projects. Internal task force under guidance to OD consultants and Top Leaders implements these projects. The strategically aligned Organizational Development Initiatives hence take organizations on a faster, yet sustained and profitable growth trajectory.

2. Literature Review

Van de Ven and Poole (1995) introduce four basic theories that may serve as building blocks for explaining processes of change in the organizations: life cycle, teleology, dialectics, and evolution. These four theories represent different sequences of change events that are driven by different conceptual motors and operate at different organizational levels. The study identifies the circumstances when each theory applies and proposes how interplay among the theories produces a wide variety of more complex theories of change and development in organizational life. Ololube and Ololube (2017) evaluated the relationship between leadership perception, attitudes and application towards organizational change. Using a structured questionnaire, principal officers, their deputies and faculty perceptions were analyzed and the results revealed that though change matrix are often painful and chaotic, however, significant relationship was found between employee perception, attitude, application and organizational change. Shah et al. (2017) considers a data sample from a large public sector organization and through applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) identifies salary, job promotion, organizational loyalty and organizational identity influences on employee job satisfaction (suggesting and mediating employee readiness for organizational change).

Grosser et al. (2016) examines employee perceptions of social network dynamics in the context of an organizational change. The findings corroborate and begin to explain previous conflicting findings about open-office workplace design. The study also finds that employees in the organization favor close, dense network formation, in contrast to theories that favor network sparseness. Petrou and Schaufeli (2016) report that while adequate change communication is linked to increased job crafting behaviors for promotion focused employees, inadequate change communication is linked to increased job crafting behaviors for prevention focused employees. Furthermore, seeking resources is positively associated with employee work engagement, seeking challenges is positively associated with adaptivity, and reducing demands is negatively associated with work engagement. Gomes et al. (2016) clarifies the predictive nature of organizational change programs orientation in workers’ commitment to the organization, and also, to examine in particular, the role of perceived support in this relation. One hundred and fifty three workers of a Hotel Business Industry constitute the participants of this co relational study, proposing that organizational change programs orientation have predictive abilities over organizational commitment, and that perceived support plays a mediator role in this relation. Project management processes and the training of new project managers (PM) must consider the impact of organizational change on the success and failure of project implementations (Hornstein, 2015). In addition, PM certifying agencies like PMI and IPMA are strongly encouraged to include education on Organizational Change Management (OCM) to the certification process for new PMs. Organizational factors influence the success of security initiatives in software development (Poller & KinderKurlanda, 2017). Security audits and developer training can motivate development teams to adopt security practices, but their interplay with organizational structures and routines remains unclear.

Prevailing perspectives on time and change often emphasize the forward movement of time and the relative stability of attributes, an emphasis that fosters theories of organizational evolution as a linear progression of a past that moves to the present that moves to the future (Lord et al., 2015). While useful in many respects, this perspective obscures the uncertainty of emerging organizational phenomena, and it offers little insight into the rare and unpredictable events that change the course of history. Results from structural equation modeling showed that fairness and exhaustion partially mediated the association of job insecurity with affective commitment and psychosomatic complaints, respectively (Schumacher et al., 2016). Multiple group analysis showed that the relation between job insecurity and fairness gradually decreased across the three change stages, and that the exhaustion process was most prominent amid the change. Using a grounded approach, the study identified nine themes to develop an in-depth understanding of organizational change processes for sustainability (Hoover & Harder, 2015). This led to the identification of a number of hidden contradictions and tensions that seem to characterize such processes. These contradictions and tensions lead to recurring barriers to change and issues that can undermine the very sustainability of change processes. These issues are also influenced by the perception of who has power to affect change, networks and institutional structures. Carter et al. (2013) reveal that the quality of relationships between leaders and employees mediated the influence of transformational leadership on employee task performance and OCB. The study also found that change frequency moderated the positive association of relationship quality with task performance and OCB, such that associations were stronger when change frequency was high.

3. Research Methodology

The research is a descriptive type of research in nature.

3.1. Objectives of the study

• To conduct organizational diagnosis at Infosys.

• To suggest measures of improvement of the same wherever necessary.

3.2. Data collection

For primary data, a structured questionnaire was drafted based on the Likert scale for the analysis. For secondary data, various articles, books and websites were consulted.

3.3. Sampling Technique

The questionnaire was filled by the employees of Infosys who were selected on the basis of random sampling.

3.4. Sample size

The responses were collected from the senior software engineers of Infosys. The sample size is 19.

4. Organisational Model

4.1. Purpose

The purpose of an organization is to accomplish the goals and objectives as indicated within the organization's vision statement. The mission statement will indicate how they plan on reaching those goals and objectives. From the below mentioned questions, we are trying to measure clarity of goals among employees.

Figure 1. parameters related to organizational diagnosis

Source. Made by the author

Questionnaire used is as follows:

1. The Goals of this Organization are clearly stated.

2. I am in agreement with the stated goals of my work unit.

3. I understand the purpose of the organization.

4. The priorities of the organization are understood by its employee.

5. I have enough inputs in deciding my work unit goals.

In the survey we got the following responses for the above parameters

Figure 2 . showing responses for questions on parameter "purpose"​​​​​​​

Interpretations: As interpreted from the graph, the average score for purpose is 2.62 and the graph revolves around this only.

Score 1 resembles strongly agree or positive outlook.

Score 5 resembles strongly disagree or negative outlook.

As the score tends to be more towards disagreeiness, it indicates that the employees are not much clear about their goals and the purpose of the organization.

4.2. Structure

An organizational structure is a mainly hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim. Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup and the individual.

Questionnaire used is as follows:

1. The division of labor of the organization is flexible.

2. The division of labor in the organization is intended to help it reach its goals.

3. The manner in which work task is divided is a logical one.

4. The structure of the organization work unit is well designed.

5. The division of labor in the organization actually helps it to reach its goals.

Figure 3. showing responses for questions on parameter "structure"

Interpretations: As interpreted from the graph, the average score for structure is 2.55 and the graph revolves around this only.

Score 1 resembles strongly agree or positive outlook.

Score 5 resembles strongly disagree or negative outlook.

As the score tends to be more towards disagreeiness, it indicates that the employees are not satisfied with the current structure and the division of work in the organization.

4.3. Rewards

Rewards system usually means the financial reward which an organization gives to its employees in return for their labour. While the term rewards system, not only includes material rewards, but also non-material rewards. The components of a reward system consist of financial rewards (basic and performance pay) and employee benefits, which together comprise total remuneration. They also include non-financial rewards (recognition, promotion, praise, achievement responsibility and personal growth) and in many case a system of performance management. Pay arrangements are central to the cultural initiative as they are the most tangible expression of the working relationships between the employer and the employee.

Questionnaire used is as follows:

1. My job offers me the opportunity to grow as a person.

2. The pay scale and the benefits of the organization treat each employee equitably.

3. The opportunity for promotion exists in the organization.

4. The salary that I receive is commensurate with the job that I perform.

5. All the tasks to be accomplished are associated with the incentives.

Figure 4. showing responses for questions on parameter “rewards”​​​​​​​

Interpretations: As interpreted from the graph, the average score for rewards is 3.12 which represent lack of satisfaction.

Score 1 resembles strongly agree or positive outlook.

Score 5 resembles strongly disagree or negative outlook.

As the score tends to be more towards disagreeiness, it indicates that the employees are not satisfied with the current reward mechanism of the organization.

4.4. Leadership

One of the main steps in organizational diagnosis it to provide leadership in the area of organizational process improvements. The HR Business Partner has to lead serious initiatives to propose and design new approaches and new organizational processes. The results of the discussions and approaches should be the proposal for the changes of the corporate culture, in the area of setting new skill sets needed for the new job and new challenges, desired results and management approaches.

Leadership is measured on the basis of the following parameters:

1) My immediate supervisor is supportive of my efforts.

2) The leadership norms of the organization help its progress.

3) The organization’s Leadership efforts result in the organization’s fulfillment of its purposes.

4) It is clear to me when my supervisor is attempting to guide my work efforts.

5) I understand my supervisor’s efforts to influence me and the other members of the work unit.

Figure 5. showing responses for questions on parameter “leadership”​​​​​​​

Interpretations: As the scores are below 2.5, this means that the employees are more or less satisfied with their leaders and their leadership styles. So, not much OD interventions are required in this field.

4.5. Relationship

Years ago, the relationship between employer and employee was governed by the assumption that employers were like kings and were free to offer any terms of employment and treat their employees in any way they dictated, and the employees were free to either accept or reject those terms (i.e., take it or leave it). There were few laws and protections available to employees that would safeguard their interests at times of manipulation, shabby treatment, defamation, discrepancies, retaliation, unfair practices, etc. Employees did not have a platform to voice their protests.

Today, employees and job applicants are protected by various federal and state laws. Many state courts have recognized additional employee rights that have not been set out in written statutes, but instead are part of common law, based solely upon earlier court rulings. Employers no longer have the right to treat their employees any way they desire. Employees have the right to protest, make claims, file litigation, and seek damages, if they believe they have been mistreated at any stage of the employment relationship.

Relationship is measured based on the following parameters:

1. My relationship with my supervisor is a harmonious one.

2. I can always talk with someone at work if I have work related problem.

3. My relationship with members of my work group is friendly as well as professional.

4. I have established the relationships that I need to do my job.

5. There is no evidence of unresolved conflicts in the organization.

Figure 6. showing responses for questions on parameter “relationships”​​​​​​​

Interpretations: Mostly all the responses are in the average range of 2.22 which is a fairly good score. The employees feel that they share a good relationship with their peers. Whenever there arises a problem or a conflict, they are able to solve it with mutual consensus. Here there is no need of OD intervention as the relationship is a good one. From the recruitment to the exit interview they are treated fairly in Infosys.

4.6. Attitude Towards Change

Individual attitude towards organizational change emerges as one of the most pervasive factors in individual resistance to processes of change. This resistance to change appears to account, in turn, for failure in such change processes.

Following parameters are used to measure the attitude towards change:

1. The organization is not resistant to change.

2. The organization introduces enough policies and procedures.

3. The organization favors change.

4. Occasionally I like to change things about my job.

5. The organization has the ability to change.

Figure 7. showing responses for questions on parameter “attitude towards change”​​​​​​​

Interpretations: The score for attitude towards change is 2.44 which show that mostly all the responses reacted positively when asked about the questions pertaining to the change in the organization. This implies that when an employee is faced with a situation which requires him to deviate from his/her original course of action he or she reacts positively towards initiating such a change.

4.7. Helpful Mechanism

Helpful mechanisms are coordinating technologies like planning, budgeting and controlling. Under helpful mechanisms, one aims to assess the degree of coordination in the organizations through technologies like planning, budgeting and controlling. It also covers the relationship between a subordinate and his/her respective supervisor. Also, it covers the relationship among various departments of the organization in the purview of the above mentioned technologies.

Following parameters are used to measure helpful mechanism:

1. My immediate supervisor has ideas that are helpful for me and my work group.

2. I have the information which I need to do a good job.

3. The organization has an adequate mechanism for binding the employees together.

4. Other work units are helpful to my work unit whenever assistance is required.

5. The organization’s planning and control efforts are to its growth and development.

Figure 8. showing responses for questions on parameter “helpful mechanism”​​​​​​​

Interpretations: The score for helpful mechanism has come out to be 2.48 which too lies under 2.5 (the mid range for the scores). This shows that the culture in the organization is helping one and the seniors give full support to their subordinates. The employees of Infosys have full confidence in the management and they believe that the management is helping them in their career growth.

5. Recommendations

Some of the interventions suggested are as follows:

RAT: Role Analysis Technique can be used so that the employees get clarity of their goals and also get clear about their expectation form the organization and the organization’s expectation from them.

MBO: Management by Objectives (MBO) is a process of defining objectives within an organization so that the management and the employees agree to the objectives and understand what they are in the organization. The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employee’s actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when the employees involve themselves with the goal setting and choosing the course of actions to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities.

Flat Structure: Flat organization (also known as horizontal organization) refers to an organizational structure with few or no levels of intervening management between staff and managers. The idea is that well-trained workers will be more productive when they are more directly involved in the decision making process, rather than closely supervised by many layers of management.

Mentoring: As the score suggests that the employees are not happy with the current structure and distribution of the work, mentors can be assigned to the employees who can guide them and can also help the employees to understand the structure and processes better.

Motivational Training: Motivation is the activation of goalorientated behavior. As the score indicated that the employees are not much motivated because of the reward system, motivational training can solve the purpose here.

Variable Pay/performance based pay: Because of this, employee will have a greater incentive to work harder as they would be able to see immediate tangible incentives and also non performer and under performer will work harder.

Proper Career Planning: Succession planning enables your organization to identify talented employees and provide education to develop them for future higher level and broader responsibilities. Succession planning helps you "build bench strength."

6. Conclusion

The employees are not much clear about their goals and the purpose of the organization. The employees are not satisfied with the current structure and the division of the work in the organization, and also with the current reward mechanism of the organization. However the employees are satisfied with their leaders and their leadership styles. The employees feel that they share a good relationship with their peers. Whenever there arises a problem or a conflict, they are able to solve it with mutual consensus. When an employee is faced with a situation which requires him to deviate from his/her original course of action he/she reacts positively towards initiating such a change. The employees of Infosys have full confidence in the management and they believe that the management is helping them in their career growth.