Organization design
The challenge:
Our client is one of the leading engineering and EPC stalwarts in India. They faced a need for organizational transformation in light of shrinking margins, new entrants in industry, complex business structure, and long business gestation cycle. The company was also internally facing low productivity, loss making operations, cash flow problems due to project delays and high employee attrition. The company approached us for to help fix the multiple overlaps and inter-linkages in organizational structure. They also needed to address inadequate data on manpower, reporting chains, and key processes.
Our approach:
Cerebrus started with organizational diagnostics to identify key issues along with in-depth pre-study with key senior employees. Considering the duration and the multitude on interventions, Cerebrus adopted an integrated approach to ensure simultaneous delivery on various modules. This was planned in a manner to ensure similar initiatives are grouped or are executed successively to ensure maximum effectiveness.
We interviewed all employees across all functions, job bands, and locations to understand problem areas, roles, and secure buy-ins on proposed changes. We also participated in the Annual Business Planning process to share expertise, understand organizational priorities and set expectations Our Role Clarity Workshops were conducted for over 500 employees and one-on-one meetings with department heads helped us understand departmental structures, workflow, key activities and pay plans. We conducted an HR audit and worked with their HR team to strengthen existing processes, compensation benchmarking, structure rationalization, as well as designing HR policies and drafting the Employee Handbook.
The resolution:
The client had a complex structure that was a combination of a hybrid and a divisional structure. There were structures within structures and with multiple overlaps and inter-linkages. We were able to document organizational charts for all functions across job bands, identify gaps in competence, and use these to define 120 unique job descriptions. We organized the manpower data by function, location, role and designation for all employees. We also did an in-depth manpower analysis to identify the key structural gaps.
We helped harmonize salary components with performance through goal setting and variable pay plan. This exercise not only aligned jobs and salaries to the market but also helped inculcate a more performance driven work culture in line with business objectives.
Over the course of the assignment, Cerebrus also helped bring about an external market perspective during the various interventions that helped in building a greater business focus at senior levels. The client now had updated organization charts, employee files, manpower data, as well as compensation data.
The client approached Cerebrus again after a period of one year for undertaking and vision and mission exercise, as a follow up to the initiatives undertaken.