First and foremost, we would like to thank Dr.Gowri Joshi for giving us an opportunity to present our ideas on the topic. Also we are obliged to her for helping us whenever we needed guidance. She inspired us greatly to work in this project.
We would also like to thank the employees of Godrej & Boyce who helped us by providing their insights and views about the company which led to the success of this project.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2
1. INTRODUCTION 4
2. BACKDROP OF STUDY 4
3. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 4
4. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY 5
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5
6. ABOUT GODREJ AND BOYCE 6
7. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 11
8. RECOMMENDATION 12
9. CONCLUSION 13
10. APPENDIX 13
1. INTRODUCTION
Godrej Group was established in the year 1897. Ardeshir Godrej, lawyer-turned-locksmith, was its founder. He was a persistent inventor and a strong visionary. His inventions which were manufactured by his brother Pirojsha Godrej, were the foundation of today's Godrej empire. The group is India's one of the most trusted brand and Godrej enjoys the patronage and trust of around 500 million Indians every single day.
The group consists of seven major companies including real estate, FMCG, industrial engineering, appliances, furniture, security and agri care. Around 26% of their revenue comes from overseas market covering 60 countries.
2. BACKDROP OF STUDY
We, as a team, possess knowledge of various GOD topics such as conflict management techniques, organizational culture, organization change, group behaviour, negotiation techniques, power and politics. Also since many of our members have corporate life experience we ourselves have experienced and practiced it, though we didn't know the technical terms associated with each.
3. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The manufacturing sector of India is still way behind its major Asian competitors. To compete with Chinese cheap manufacturing products, it is very important to optimize projects in terms of cost and resource management. The recent violence at Maruti Manesar plant is an eye-opener what employee dissatisfaction can cause to the reputation of a company. Issues like stiff competition, labour unrest among contractual labourers added to rising inflation causes stiff challenge to the management in mitigating such risks. Hence it is very important for an organization to cater to the needs of the employee without compromising the goals of the organization.
In this report, we have tried to analyse the organisation structure of a manufacturing company Godrej&Boyce and the policies/best practises governing the needs of the employees. We have also tried to provide recommendation based on our research which we feel can be introduced to further boost employee satisfaction and productivity.
4. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
The scope of our Project Report covers only Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd . We will be studying it's organization structure, it's corporate values , mission and vision statements, and various other aspects of organizational culture and work environment.
However, there are a few limitations of our project:
We had to rely on employee experience for certain data as part of primary research which might have some bias
Also, lot of sensitive data is not disclosed by the company which could have provided further insights in the company.
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research method followed a combination of primary research and secondary research:
Primary Research: Here we have floated questionnaires to employees via email and also took personal interviews. This helped us get lot of details about the work-life balance, motivation level and also concerns about work. We have added few employees in LinkedIn, Facebook and tried to get feedback about their organization culture and diversity of work environment.
Secondary Research: Here we have tried to collect data from websites, blogs and social networks. This type of historical data helped us understand the trend how Godrej as a company has evolved over the time based on market scenarios and reorganized Organization strategies to stay competitive in its sector.
6. ABOUT GODREJ AND BOYCE
The Godrej group can be broadly divided into two major holding companies:
Godrej Industries Ltd
Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.
Godrej and Boyce
The Pirojsha Godrej, brother of founder Ardeshir Godrej, laid the foundation for the sprawling industrial garden township now called Pirojshanagar in the suburbs of Mumbai. It started it journey with the manufacture of high quality locks. Godrej and Boyce has 15 diverse divisions offering consumer, office, and industrial products and services of the highest quality to every corner of India and across the globe.
Their some business include Appliances, Construction, Precision Engineering, Precision Systems, Process Equipment, Locks and Material Handling. Godrej Interio has taken step for green guard certification program, BIFMA level certification program. having near about 1750 acre of area as Mangroves in Mumbai area.
Organization Structure:
The organization structure or the organogram of Godrej & Boyce is very tall and has a number of positions in the hierarchy. Appendix 1 shows the hierarchy in Godrej Interio, one of the divisions in Godrej & Boyce. The organogram is similar in other division of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.
At the top is J N Godrej, the owner of Godrej & Boyce. The Board of Directors (BoD) are appointed by adhering to the corporate governance principles according to the clause 49 of listing agreement on Indian Stock Exchange , laid down by Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI). The BoD is entitled to make all the business decisions by keeping in view the interests of all the stakeholders involved in the business.
The CEO is sometimes a part of the BoD, but here the CEO report the company activities to the BoD and all the branch heads and service heads of various verticals report to him. The work is then categorized with respect to the products and a senior manager is assigned with a set of products to take care of. Hence, a group of senior managers in a particular department report to the department head. Every Senior manager has Graduate Engineer Trainees(GETs) and Assistant managers under him to coordinate with the daily activities in his plant.
Saurabh Zope, an estimation engineer at Godrej & Boyce says, "The organization structure can be further broadened to promote people doing very good work which at present cannot done because of the pyramid like band structure of hierarchy." The organization structure, due to it's tall nature, and restricted responsibilities and freedom to each employee, does not allow people to come up with something new and and asks them to continue with what is asked to be done.
Organization Culture:
One of the primary characteristics of Godrej organizational culture is it gives high importance to people orientation. Equal opportunity to the employees is provided by the firm to grow both horizontally & vertically through cross functional, cross business and cross location job rotations. According to the company's shared value report employees are also encouraged to be innovative and be risk takers. This gives immense opportunities to professionals to add value to them and to satisfy their career aspirations.
The group has evolved considerably over the last 10 years - in terms of both strategic focus and the determination with which they execute. According to chairman Adi Godrej [1] the change in organizational behavior that it entails, has been a key aspect of how Godrej group culture has evolved in recent times.
Over times Godrej has shifted its cultural value focus from being rigid, stodgy and conservative to progression, expression, empathy and experience. This claim can be further validated by various examples.
Firstly, the change can be gauged by its leadership and orientation programme for its trainees. It's comprehensive and innovative training programme GALLOP [2] now focusses more on developing a newcomer into a professional by giving him or her exposure to various departments and inculcate in him or her, a sense of belonging. This is how they are changing their approach from being outcome oriented initially to team and people oriented by developing a sense of identity to the firm.
However Godrej culture has not divulged from its core values of trust, integrity, fairness and humility.
In the words of its top management Adi Godrej "There is one piece of advice I was given when I joined the company, and something I has passed on: Integrity, not just financial, but also intellectual is extremely important."
On interviewing Mr. Aniket Kothari, an employee of Godrej and Boyce, he revealed us some stories of Adi Godrej which were a part of Godrej folklore like how when the workers union went on strike, Adi Godrej insisted on sweeping his office himself for a week, or how when travelling he'll carry his own bags. Still others say Adi Godrej was the most accessible person in the organisation and probably replies to emails faster than anyone else.
This shows how organization core values of fairness and humility are kept alive by its top management and how the folklore stories are source of inspiration to the employees.
Work Environment:
The work environment of a company plays a very important role in shaping the work life of the employees within the organization. Every employee strives to get a proper work-life balance in the organization he works and it is one of the most important requirements for him.
Saurabh Zope, an engineer in estimation department at Godrej, says "The company is very good for fresh engineers as it tends to give a lot of responsibility very early in the career which leads to early development and sense of responsibility." Saurabh joined Godrej in July 2011 as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) and currently, he is the assistant manager in the estimation department. He was overwhelmed by the work culture at Godrej & Boyce when he joined and he plans to stay for atleast next 4-5 years with the same organization , as he finds it suitable with his work life expectations and other requirements.
Saurabh also mentions an incident to exemplify the work life at Godrej as follows:
"I can give my example to explain how G&B gives a lot of responsibility to fresh engineers. Just after 4 months in the organization which I spent as GET on the shop floor I was allocated to Estimation Depart of Godrej Process Equipment where my job profile is to do preliminary design of pressure parts, perfectly estimate the weight and cost of the equipment according to the client's requirements. This means in just 4 months I was given a responsibility to quote on behalf of G&B which is a highly critical profile as it involves direct cost implication in case of any mistake on my part."
Thus, the organization believed in new talent and promoted the youngsters by giving them more responsibility.
Harshala Narkhede, an Assistant manager at NPI division , Godrej & Boyce, says "Having facilities like resident, school, Hospital in company premises, trainings for newly joined employees, is really helpful for the employees. Godrej is very social as many employee engagement or cultural annual programs take place every year."Harshala is from Jalgaon district of Maharashtra and stays in the Godrej Residential Colony since she joined Godrej & Boyce. She was worried about the accommodation initially, but all her other problems including accommodation were solved at Godrej, which led her to concentrate properly on her work , and forget all other tensions.
Thus, such employee welfare initiatives undertaken by Godrej has also led to a sense of satisfaction among the employees, which has also contributed to a better and productive manpower in the organization.
Power and Politics:
"You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."
- Al Capone
Power and politics has its play in this company as well. People often need to use power tactics and exert their political skill, for getting ahead in the corporate ladder. Unfair, but true, promotions and pay hikes do not always follow the performance parameters proportionately. There are a lot of people in the organization, quite deserving, who in spite of demonstrating the required skills in the workplace, and even superseding them, do not get ahead in the race. Reasons are not too far to seek. There are only a handful of resources that can be benefitted at one time- the basic demand and supply theory of economics is applicable everywhere, big pool of talented resources ( more supply), limited the positions in the upper echelons of the organization( less demand).
Conflict Management:
Conflicts between Sales teams and Marketing teams of organizations are quite pervasive. It was not an exception in Godrej & Boyce as well. Problem arises when the conflicts become dysfunctional, hindering the group performance. Sales and Marketing teams aimed to achieve their respective targets which led to severe task conflicts. The sales team, which communicate with the consumers directly, make deals with the latter that the deliverables will be made at a certain price. In order to reach the sales target, the sales team often promises certain discounts.
However, during the time of actual delivery, marketing teams fall out regarding the discounts as they need to show good profit margins to their managers. All this lead to the never-ending conflicts between the two teams and leads to ego clashes between them, giving rise to relationship conflict as well. The environment is rendered competitive as a result of that.
To resolve such conflicts the teams should engage themselves in healthy communication. There should be Face-to- face meetings between conflicting parties which will go a long way in resolving conflicts. There should be open discussion between all the concerned parties. Management should intervene and use formal, authoritative command between the conflicting sales and marketing teams.
The main reason for conflict is due to tight monetary resource that is provided by the organization. The company can expand the resources so that it will create a win-win situation to both the sales and marketing teams. Though it might increase the expenditure for the company, it will pay well in the future.
7. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The following findings can be drawn from the analysis of Godrej's Organizational Structure:
Organization Structure: The structure is too tall and hierarchical in nature. Employees are entitled with specific amount of responsibility, which they are expected to fulfill. Hence, the organization structure of Godrej is said to be bureaucratic.
Organization Culture: The Organization culture and values of Godrej include serving the customers continuously in the best possible way. They have a very flexible organization culture which accommodates everyone.
Work Environment: The work culture and godrej believes in employees and tries to cater to their other personal needs, so that the employees can focus on their work in a better way. It rewards young talent by assigning them with key responsibilities at the early stage of their career, according to their performance and ability.
Power and Politics:
Conflict Management:
8. RECOMMENDATION
The following recommendations can be made for Godrej based on the findings:
Flexibility in work: Harshala Narkhede, an Assistant manager at NPI division of Godrej & Boyce , says " The flexibility in work profile must be looked upon for improvement". Thus, although Godrej has a good work culture to accommodate everyone, it has a water tight compartment of responsibilities and initiatives, which restricts anyone to think out of it's area of expectations. It would be helpful for Godrej if they concentrate on the aspect of flexibility in work profile of the employees, so as to encourage them to pursue their areas of interest along with their primary responsibilities. For example, a person on shop floor may also be interested in knowing and participating in the projects of Product development and testing, which he cannot in case of such a work environment.
Transparency in promotion: As we interviewed a few people from Godrej, we came to know that although there is no favoritism generally in Godrej, when it comes to appraisal, superiors tend to give biased views of their close subordinates. This kind of perception creates an ambiguity in the minds of performers. To avoid this, there must be exactly specified and laid down goals to be achieved , enlisted in the goal sheet of each employee at the beginning of each appraisal period, that can be measured effectively without minimal amount of subjectivity . This will give a clear view of who has performed to what extent and it will also avoid such a discontent among the peer network in the organization at all levels in the hierarchy.
Conflict Management: There will be different goals assigned to different departments in the organization , but they all point towards the ultimate goal of organizational growth . Hence, In case of a conflict of interest, the employees of Godrej must take a decision based on what is beneficial for the organization as a whole. The sales team and the marketing team need to sit down together and chalk out a plan to fulfill both their targets and thereby achieve the overall growth of organizational growth.
9. CONCLUSION
10. APPENDIX
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Email reply of Saurabh Zope ( Engineer, Estimation Department, Godrej & Boyce)
Your views on Organization structure of Godrej:
a) anything special about the organization
Ans:The company is very good for fresh engineers as it tends to give a lot of responsibility very early in the career which leads to early development and sense of responsibility.
b) positive points for you with respect to the organization
Ans: 1. A lot of responsibility very early in the career.
2. Exposure to critical profiles like estimation to fresh engineers.
3. Freedom to switch businesses in case of job opportunities in other Godrej businesses.
c) Points of improvement for the organization structure
Ans: The organization structure can be further broadened to promote people doing very good work which at present cannot done because of the pyramid like band structure of hierarchy.
d) Have you seen or experienced any favoritism or politics played in the organisation in your tenure? Just mention it in brief
Ans: Apart from some politics which happens during the appraisal time in every organization I have found G&B to be fair overall.
e) One example of any incident which reflects ur view about the organization
Ans: I can give my example to explain how G&B gives a lot of responsibility to freash engineers. Just after 4 months in the organization which I spent as GET on the shop floor I was allocated to Estimation Depart of Godrej Process Equipment where my job profile is to do preliminary design of pressure parts, perfectly estimate the weight and cost of the equipment according to the client's requirements. This means in just 4 months I was given a responsibility to quote on behalf of G&B which is a highly critical profile as it involves direct cost implication in case of any mistake on my part.
