“CASE STUDY : LEADERSHIP IN TURBULENT TIMES”

ABSTRACT

The telecom market which was even growing faster than the IT business
had lost the momentum; growth in the domestic market was in single
digits. Small entrepreneurs like Akhilesh were struggling to keep
revenues up for his organization- Zenith e-solution. The delayed revenue
realization from customer was a reality which was weighing in adversely
on the balance sheet, sustaining the business was a big challenge now.
Although Akhilesh wasn’t surprised, he had seen it coming. He had
worked up a backup plan and was exploring the international markets
for opportunities for last two years now. But HR had already informed
him about the growing anger & resentment in the employees for not
getting salary on time. For Mr. Akhilesh, it was a wakeup call. It was
time for him to address them and convince that funds for the salary
disbursement will soon be arranged. This case study can help in
analyzing the skills required for a leader to retain his employees and
sustain organization in turbulent times. What kind of challenges has to
be faced by a leader in tough situation? What is the role of HR
department and manager in such situation?

Keywords: Leader, HR, Salary, Telecom

CASE STUDY

Mr. Akhilesh was on a call with his client and the client was shouting at
him for the two month delay in project execution. Deadlines had been
extended several times since there weren’t qualified people to work on
the requirement. Most of the key technical resources had left the
organization in past six months; many more were planning to put in
papers. The news had spread, Organization- Zenith e-solution, was sick,
salaries were unpaid for close to four months now. The company was
going through a cash flow crunch for close to one and half year now but
the situation was worse now. People had started leaving, their patience
had run out. Resignations were coming in everyday, although HR team
was working overtime to bring in replacements but new offers were not
getting closed. The news had hit the market; no one was interested in
joining the company

The company was losing new projects. Employee productivity and morale
was low. Everyone was just passing the buck and everybody was blaming
each other for the situation.

The news outside wasn’t good either and was partly the reason this crisis
has erupted. The telecom market which was even growing faster than the
IT business had lost the momentum; growth in the domestic market was
in single digits. There were now too many operators, all of them
scrambling for subscribers. VAS applications which accounted for close
to 7% of operator revenue and was the main product of vendors like
Zenith e-solution had no takers, mobile users were cutting back on
entertainment spending and no major service launch from any operator
was scheduled in near future. This had demented the whole telecom
services industry and small entrepreneurs like Akhilesh were struggling
to keep revenues up. Although Akhilesh wasn’t surprised, he had seen it
coming. He had worked up a backup plan and was exploring the
international markets for opportunities for last two years now.

The US financial crisis had also hit home with the subscribers reduced
spending on value added services, adding to the woes were new
companies which kept coming up in the VAS business every year since
the entry barrier in technology wasn’t much of a hurdle. The technology
and tools to make applications were readily available. The delayed
revenue realization from customer was a reality which was weighing in
adversely on the balance sheet, sustaining the business was a big
challenge now

For Mr. Akhilesh, it was a wake up call. HR had already informed him
about the growing anger & resentment in the employees. It was time for
him to address them and convince that funds for the salary
disbursement will soon be arranged. He asked the HR manager to
arrange a meeting of all the Project Managers and senior people

The news of the meeting spread quickly, the discussion was ripe on
lunch table as to why this meeting has been called and what will be the
outcome of it? Has the funds been arranged? Will we get appraisals this
year? Will everything be alright soon? Hope was in the air
-1-
All the employees were having lunch in the canteen. HR manager Rahul
was also sitting on a table, with some employees.

Mr. Sharma chuckled: - so, Mr. Rahul, what is going to happen? You
must have all information why this meeting is called, after all you are the
HR manager. You have lot of control on our fate, like Mr Akhilesh!

Rahul responded politely, “I don’t know sir, the CEO hasn’t shared
anything with me. It’s a surprise meeting for me as well.

Everyone was anxious to know .

Mr. Ranjan, Sales Team member said: Rumor is hot. He is selling this
company & very soon, all of us will be out on the road, looking for
another job .

Rahul : What rubbish! Sir is trying his best to arrange some funding to
contain this crisis.

Mr. Sharma : That’s what we are saying. There is a crisis. And

whenever, there is a crisis, everybody tries to save themselves. So,
Akhilesh will most probably do the same, shut down the company, save
his money or sell it company to recover his losses, but what about us?
Where will we go? I am worried, if he sells this company, we will be
unemployed. How will I pay my EMI’s? What will I say to my wife &
children? How will I pay my children’s school fees? What will they think
of me?

Rahul : Don’t be so negative. It’s a meeting only.

Mr. Ranjan interupted: But you cannot ignore this fact that it is a top
officials meeting & nobody knows the agenda. So there will be something
crucial only.

Rahul : It can be the good news as well! May be the CEO has managed to
get an investor & all those problems will never be on us! I feel we should
be optimistic and hope for the best!

Mr. Sharma : You are from HR. you can talk like this. When there is
salary crunch for the past 6 months and there is no expense
reimbursement, conveyance or other benefits, it is difficult to stay
optimistic. I owned a credit card for almost 3 years now, never used it
but last six months, I have had overruns and paid late payment charges
on my card. I am paying for all my monthly expenses with the card, it’s
been a savior, Mr Rahul unlike your respected CEO, who has only failed
repeatedly on his word. He promised two months back to me that
everything will be all right in a month. Nothing changed!
It is very difficult to remain optimistic with empty pockets Mr Rahul. We
always used to receive salary on the 1 st of every month, remember! Both
of us are here for 5 years and now no one knows when the salary will
come? When we ask you, you fail to tell us any confirmed date. We
check our account balance everyday now, with a hope that, may be the
salary will be released today. It’s daily dive in the sea of hope and
despair, right?

Rahul : But you are getting it, right? It’s not like that you are not getting
it. I agree it generally comes late now, but at least it is coming.

Mr. Sharma : Don’t be kidding Rahul! Company owes my last month

salary. Don’t you know that there is a 1 & ½ month time gap in salary
now. We receive July month salary in the month of August somewhere
around 25 August or 27 August and similarly August month salary in
month of September end.

Somebody commented from nearby table: Have you observed guys,

nowadays, Akhilesh doesn’t sound very aggressive. He neither asks for
pending work status regularly nor goes on his usual round of office floor
But the day he releases the salary, he is back to his usual self. Now
whenever he comes for the round or asks for the task status or shout at
anybody. I feel excited & think, maybe the salary has come that’s why
he is asking for status.

Everybody started laughing at this but in their heart they knew, it was
hardly a moment to laugh, probably they needed to try harder, to find a
job, any job for that matter which just paid the salary on time.
What is going to happen in today’s meeting? Will it change our lives? Or
end in disappointment? Everyone was looking for an answer.

Rahul was not very happy with the dismal attitude of employees and he
decided to talk to Akhilesh after the meeting. He himself was wondering
about the meeting’s agenda.

-2-

Akhilesh arrived 3 o’clock in the boardroom. All senior officals were

already sitting there, waiting anxiously for him. Akhilesh was looking
restless, pale and worried. He started the discussion.
I know all of you are apprehensive about the company’s future. I also
know there is a lot of dissatisfaction among the employees. But trust me
everything will be fine. I am trying for every possible alternative. I am
talking to two different companies for financing and by the end of this
week; we will have the good news. The details are almost finalized; only
one or two points are remaining and it will be done. I am negotiating for
a better investment offer from them

He continued: I am aware that there are rumors in the market but I am

not going to sell or shutdown this company. It’s my baby. The company
will bounce back. We will bounce back. But I need your support. Please
cooperate. Please lift the spirit of your team members. Keep working.
Complete the projects on given deadline. I am arranging the funds. I
promise you that. Talk to your people.

If you want, I can address the teams. I am even ready to talk to every
individual employee, one to one. If you need any other kind of support,
then feel free to come and tell me. My door is always open.

He kept looking at each member present in the meeting, addressing them

personally like Mr. CTO, I know your team will do it, MR. Y, I hope you
are not facing any problem. Mr. Z – I believe, I have your full cooperation.
But nobody looked in his eyes. There was no positive response, nobody
seemed convinced. Nobody spoke, not even nodded their head in
agreement. Rahul was observing this. Akhilesh ended the meeting
repeating those words again and requested everybody to support him,
concentrate on their work, meet the deadlines and stay with the
company. That was the only message.

Akhilesh then left for his usual client meetings and the participants also
left for their desks.

-3 -
As soon as the meeting was over, most of the employees who were
waiting outside gathered around their seniors who attended the meeting.
Some shared Akhilesh’s promise, some mocked him but almost all of
them sounded skeptic.

One of them joked – “Time to start looking for another job. I haven’t seen
him plead so much till date. If he is doing it, it means the situation is
serious and beyond control, in my opinion.

Another guy commented: “It is very tough to believe him now. It’s a
almost a routine now. He has failed repeatedly on his commitments. We
can’t rely on him. He changes his statements very quickly”.
Few of them were positive, but they were very few.

One was talking to his team members: This is the company where
everybody is treated with dignity & respect. For Akhilesh, all employees
are same. We all sit together, have our lunch at the same table, party
together and enjoyed working here before this situation. You are angry
because you didn’t get your last month salary but do you know that
people like us, the senior guys haven’t been paid for last three months. If
we are not losing hope and are working with you without any complaint,
why can’t you keep your patience and work to meet the deadlines and
help come out of this situation. Go check with the finance department,
they are instructed to release the salary of the lowest paid staff, on first
priority. Most of you are first in the queue, ahead of us then why are you
still so bitter. The problem is worse for the senior guys like me. Every
company faces tough times but if you start losing hope and stop work,
nothing good will come out of it. We are a small company of 100 people,
its like a family and we should support him in this difficult time as he
has supported us in our personal times of trouble

One of his team member commented: Sir, he is a businessman, he

knows which word gimmick should be used where and when. I will
always remember, he once refused my advance salary request when my
father was hospitalized and I didn’t have any money. Now he is asking
for our cooperation, I have no sympathies for him.

Akhilesh in the meantime gave a call back to Rahul to take care of the
situation and try to convince the people. Rahul was moving around,
listening, observing the employees, wondering how to do it?