Reference no: EM132788553

Question

Excel Industries is an IT company with a turnover of Rupees 1000 crores (INR). The company was established 20 years ago and it has around 4500 employees spread over 5 Offices in India. It is headquartered in Mumbai where the CEO and his top management are based. The company has been growing steadily over the years and the results of the previous year has been very encouraging. The company has just announced very ambitious plans to expand its operations to more cities in India and also set up offices abroad in the just commenced financial year. As a result of this, the direct reports are required to work 10-12 hours a day on an average and sometimes even on weekends.

The results of the Gallup Q-12 Survey on employee engagement has just been announced. While in most areas the Organization has scored fairly well, one aspect which is disturbing to the CEO is the lack of team work at the top. Although he was aware of some kind of friction amongst his direct reports, it has now reached a stage wherein it is hampering the work in the organization. There is lot of bickering and backbiting and meetings are very unproductive with open allegations and counter-allegations being made against one another. Interactions have begun to get generally very formal and the direct reports seem to have got into formal cliques. The decision process in the organization has also slowed down considerably as a result of all of this and is causing frustration amongst the rest of the employees too in the organization

While a majority of the direct reports are old timers (essentially individuals who have come up the ranks), a few of them (5 out of 13 direct reports) have joined recently during the past one year or so. These new recruits are a much younger lot and they are professionally qualified in their respective areas. There is a very clear friction amongst these 2 factions. The old timers though not professionally qualified are well versed about the workings in the industry and are very knowledgeable too.

While the CEO is delighted to have the new comers in his team with their new perspectives and ideas from the outside world, he cannot afford to displease the old timers as they have tremendous knowledge of the existing systems and work processes. Also, the old timers have a strong set of loyalists in the organization who would do anything for them.

You are appointed as a Consultant to look into the situation and recommend a solution to the CEO to handle this crisis in an effective manner. List down the steps you would take to first narrow down on the cause of the problem. Then, recommend 5 possible options which you would provide to the CEO of the company once you have been able to identify the key causes of this problem.