Gurgaon Branch

Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

Case Study Nature of Culture and Desired Culture in Gurgaon Branch

Human Behavior Organization

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

CONTENTS

TITLE

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About Culture

3

Nature of Current Branch Culture

3

The Case

3

Analysis of the Problem with the Branch

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Changes that would lead to Desirable Branch Culture

10

Need for Change

10

How to Change

11

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch Target Question: •

What is the nature of current branch culture?

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What should be the desirable branch culture?

About Culture Culture is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterise an institution, organization or group. It is very important for an organization to have individual goals and interests aligned with the organization’s goals but at the same time one must be cautious of the dynamics of culture. Culture isn’t static and the sooner the organization and its employees realize it, the better it is. The case study of Gurgaon Branch tells us about the poor performance of the branch.

Nature of Current Branch Culture: The Case: We have to first get acquainted with the entities associated with the bank which would help us to know the reasons which led to such nature of current branch culture:

Senior Branch Manager The senior bank manager, Alok was a well qualified person who had got appreciation from Zonal Manager and Assistant General Manager. He was selected to be the Faculty member at the Regional Training Center and was even in the Inspection department for many years. A manager is supposed to be an advocate of stability and status quo in the organization. Though the manager of the branch was highly qualified yet he was discontent with the way his contribution was acknowledged. His statement “You must have a big boss at the top. Somebody must be there in the industry to take care of you. Performance is not the criterion for promotion.” clearly depicts his frustration and lack of trust in the system. This dissatisfaction is clearly etched out in his outlook in the office too. Let us analyze the skill set required for a manager and how Alok did justice to each role expected from him. 1) Listening: Rather than dictatorship, a manager should listen to his people. This would create a feeling of enthusiasm amongst employees as they would feel that “they are being heard” and would work more towards having ideas or opinions It has been mentioned in the case that Alok was work-centric and detached without any vision or desire for the growth of branch. He was tough with his employees and used his positional power to influence people. This shows that people weren’t comfortable enough to share their views with him as he adamantly followed what he viewed was right.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch 2) Trust: It’s said for that “Whenever people succeed the employees take the glory and when they fail then the manager takes the lead.” It’s very important for a manager to have trust in the abilities of his people, to encourage them to do better if they aren’t, to tell his team that “they can” when they feel “they can’t”. Alok believed his clerical staff to be dishonest for he had experienced an incident. He would even scrutinize the voucher for five rupees. He used to take strict disciplinary action against anyone violating the behavioral norms of bank setting an example that no one will be spared if anybody tries to cross limits. 3) Empower people: The three ways of how one can empower people is through

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Clarity of goals,

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Having all the resources at disposal,

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Having the element of “care” for them.

This arouses the feeling of involvement in employees who feel wanted in the company and hence they go a step further to discharge their duties. The bureaucratic work environment left little space for employees’ empowerment. Even the SBM had to seek approval of the regional and /or zonal office for capital expenditure. The SBM on his part, could have tried was to speak to higher authorities on behalf of his people. He however had retreated from his promise of promoting employees who was then superseded by candidates not as qualified as him. 4) Maintenance: This includes rewards to people for their work. It’s very important to not let biases enter the mind of manager and that justice is done to all. Not only should the employee feel that he has been paid for his efforts but also timely awarded. However, the employees felt that Alok lacked the basic human touch. He scolded the peon of his office for leaving 15 minutes earlier without even bothering to ask the reason. One of the employees used to solve computer related problems by working overtime for which he got no allowances and appreciation. Such insensitivity led to demotivation for better work giving rise to officer staff conflict and total chaos in office.

On the job dissatisfaction response chart, Alok, the SBM can be classified under the neglect part with several references indicating the same. For example: the repair works and general maintenance was in poor shape, he was not bothered about the general culture of work and of customer satisfaction as a whole. He had taken a destructive and path due to his neglect. From these assumptions, Alok can be assumed of the type INFJ according to MBTI assessment instrument, wherein, he is shy and not outgoing or friendly with the staff. Working with his intuitions and not relying on facts and figures. The same is shown by the feeling part as he put personal values before decision. He is also of judging type as he wanted to be fixed and wanted the world to run according to him. It is seen in various population breakdowns, that INFJ form the least number. (Please refer graph on next page)

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

The Accountant

Jay was an accountant of Gurgaon branch having joined only 3 months earlier. He was reputed to be hard working, sincere and responsible. The problem with him was that he felt that none could work up to his satisfaction levels and hence he didn’t like delegating work to others even if it helped in saving time. The pressure on him to answer higher authorities made him uncompromising on the quality of work, as he felt that no one better that him can do the work. Most of the times he was busy in the small tasks and was thus, unavailable for important operations (for instance, when the clerk needed approval for the demand draft) He viewed the clerical staff as completely useless, being late to work, had no understanding of customer needs. The SBM or Jay had to ask them to start work for the day. They often fought amongst themselves and with top management. Hence, in his opinion, they could not be trusted with the job. He was content with his job but not completely satisfied. He worked alone to complete his allotted work. He was self motivated but did not motivate others. He is engrossed in what he felt important for the job. Psychologically, he thought that he was as powerful as the SBM as he was involved in all decision making processes and was responsible for the accounts and was sincere and committed. His personality can be assumed to be of type ISTP according to the MBTI model, introvert like the SBM and thus he could not interact with the staff unless absolutely necessary.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch Otherwise, he opposed Alok in personality characteristics. He could sense practical applications and apply them effectively. He thought his way through and made decisions based on important factors, not involving personal values in decisions. He also perceived and is changed according to the SBM and the clerical staff. He intended to make his solutions work.

The Customers

Customers of the Gurgaon branch mainly comprised illiterate people. They weren’t demanding and this nature was well exploited by the branch officials who possessed a slack attitude towards customers. There wasn’t good customer service due to following reasons:

• Customers had to wait at the counters to open even after 10 am as employees of the branch gossiped casually before they were told by SBM or the accountant to take their seat.

• The employees usually stopped working 15 minutes earlier than their scheduled time. Also, long lunch breaks kept the customers waiting.

• Conflicts between the officers and staff were affecting the image of the branch badly. • Lack of infrastructure also added to already existing woes of customers.

The Clerical Staff The clerical staff was clearly deserted by the managers and their attitude was in a way, similar to theirs. The cognitive feature is that they felt that seniors were not supportive. The clerical staff expected help from them. Also, the SBM was also handicapped by bureaucracy and was thus unable to do anything for the bank. This led to Plez effect wherein they worked even less for the manager. Due to the Plez effect, the clerks became causal, arriving late to office, going early and overall not being committed towards work. They lacked motivation and were not bothered about constant scolding. Their behavior reflected the same and in their casualness they had become hopelessly lost. They turned towards the unions to protect them from the office staff and justified their ends. Inter union rivalry existed and led to a host of illegal activities like bribery, fake certificates etc. The job satisfaction was not high and they appeared uninterested in work. They frequently seeked help from unions and felt helpless and dominated by managers. Psychologically they turned to unions for support and since they were given minimal responsibilities, they lacked the driving force to perform. The organizational commitment shown by the staff was less and they waited for things to improve. They had no responsibilities and did not receive any promotions or allowances. “An empty mind is a devils workshop” and this led to “discontent” and “inter union rivalry”.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

Their job satisfaction chart would vary between Neglect and Loyalty. Some of the clerks were though, optimistic about working conditions while others were too negligent to bother about it.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

Analysis of the problem with the branch:

The following are the indicators of the branch’s poor performance in the recent past:

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The amount of loans sanctioned during the second quarter of 2003 was not significant. • Poor recovery of the loans contributed to non performing assets of the branch as well as the bank. • Many of the customers who seemed to be loyal to the branch had closed their accounts in the branch and had migrated to other new private banks.

The factors which could be the reasons for the branch’s abysmal performance were:

• The branch didn’t have a single Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in the locality. • The access to the branch was clogged with heavy traffic.

• New private banks like ICICI were less bureaucratic and required less paper work for loan disbursal. • The private banks offered services like on-line banking, mobile banking thus triggering salaried class to close their account in the nationalized bank in Gurgaon.

• Staff indiscipline as there was officer staff rivalry, Inter Union Conflict.

The bank is not performing the following which it should incorporate in order to succeed:

• Not Adapting to Changes: The nationalized bank since 1969 couldn’t adapt to changes. Many years back, the lending was directed at certain sectors (for instance: agriculture) and the competition was ranked based on the deposits they held.

• Advance Recovery: There wasn’t enough focus on recovering advances especially those given under the government schemes for which the money disbursed was refinanced by the government.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch • Hierarchy: The working structure was hierarchal which meant bestowing lot of power in the hands of powerful with others having little say.

• No Automation: The work was done manually and a lot of procedure had to be completed before the loan was sanctioned.

Some Anomalies to be noted from the Time Table

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The accountant supervised sweepers, which is not what an accountant should do.

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The customers had to wait for the clerical staff reach the bank. Treating customers as kings goes a long way in running a business, which was not happening.

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The clerical staff gossiped and exchange pleasantries while the customers waited for them to get to work. This showed the clerical staff’s unprofessional attitude and need to focus towards work and customers.

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The accountant was often seen requesting the staff to get to work. This is again not amongst his job duties. If he had focused on his work, his productivity would be a lot more.

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The SBM shouted at the clerical staff, which is not expected in a professional organization. The clerical staff should reach in time and start working immediately. Some amongst the staff were always missing without prior notice.

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The staff at the counter started work after 45 minutes of scheduled time. (In one case, customers had to wait for one employee because he had been on phone for more than 20 minutes. The accountant again had to interject to control the resulting situation, an event; the accountant should not be responsible for). The staff should be customer oriented without anyone having to supervise them.

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The printer of the bank had not been working for four days, which was unprofessional as a printer forms a very critical piece of machinery for the bank and this was unacceptable.

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The employees went on lunch 15 minutes before the actual lunch hours and again the customers were told to come later. Even after the lunch hours were over, the customers were waiting for the clerical staff to return. This brings a lot of negative feelings in the minds of the customers.

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Similar observations were made during the closing hours too. Employees started packing their bags 15 minutes before the end of day and the customers were told to come again at a later date. All of the observations made from the time table point to the fact that the clerks were not at all customer oriented. They took their job without seriousness. This was discussed in detail in the analysis of the clerks.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

Changes that would lead to Desirable Branch Culture

Need for Change

Liberalization brought about competition from foreign banks and with it information technology made banking easier for customers. Banks had become more focused on profits rather than just deposits and had milestones at branch, region and zonal level as a benchmark of the bank’s growth. Customer service was laid emphasis right from the ambience offered to simplification of procedures followed by customers. The private banks focused on introducing innovative products both in the retail and commercial sector. The reach ability of customers to their own money was further enhanced by ATM machines at various places. Mobile and Internet Banking made their life a lot easier, thus surmounting all hassles to go to bank to carry out basic processes.

The Gurgaon branch failed to keep abreast with changes in the banking sector. Even when seeing its customers base decreasing (mainly loosing the educated customers who changed their loyalties for more customized products of other banks), the bank didn’t strut quickly on technology way. The branch presented a very shabby look compared to centrally air conditioned and nicely decorated branches of other banks. The disharmony amongst its employees hindered the smooth functioning with no proper structure to address any problems. The hierarchal structure of the bank posed a lot of problems in several issues like selection and removal of employees by SBM, initiating disciplinary action against erring staff, taking decisions of opening ATM and for customers to complete their authorization procedure which required the signature of higher authorities. Lack of customer orientation was another important factor for the bank to have lost on its loyal customers. The printer in the office wasn’t working for many days, the special assistant who handled all the saving account counter instead of updating customer’s passbooks manually was sending all the customers to accountant, such issues though petty had galvanized Jay (the accountant )to take a tough stand against his employees.

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch

How to Change

From the above analysis we have realized the strong need for branch culture to change. The leadership style has to change first to pave the way for the other changes. Ajay, the SBM should see to it that his employees are being heard, they are to be awarded as an appreciation of their work while any indiscipline should not be tolerated. The people who take leave without prior approval should be given strict instructions for not repeating the same.

The accountant, Jay should be asked to delegate responsibility which would expedite the process and would also empower people and make them more responsible for their work. The people should be entrusted and proper monitoring should be done.

People must be handled in the following manner depending upon their relative Will as well as Capabilities towards the work:

Feedback should be given to them at every step for them to know where exactly they are lacking (High Will; Low Capability)

Small tasks should be allotted along with constant monitoring

Awarded properly and should be given more independence as compared to others (High Will; High Capability)

Participation in important decisions should be encouraged from them so that they may feel wanted

(Low Will; Low Capability) (Low Will; High Capability)

Hence, care should be taken while dealing with different types of employees. Benchmarks should be there to evaluate every employee. The unions should be properly dealt with and their confidence should be won so as to show workers that the organization cares for them and that their efforts do not go waste.

Customer Orientation:

When it comes to customer orientation, one should remove all biases while dealing with them. On the bases of status, caste, creed, no unfair treatment should be metted out to any of them. The bank should remember that even though their customers were illiterate, yet their confidence should be won to make more profitability in the business. At the same time, efforts should be directed to win

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Case Study: Gurgaon Branch back the lost customers and the potential customers by filling up the loop holes existing in the system. Some important steps in this direction can be is to open more ATM’s, to enable Mobile and Internet banking, to make the procedures simpler and easily comprehendible, to have proper sign boards in the office as to clearly etch out the path a customer should take while following a process.

Infrastructure:

The next important aspect is the infrastructure. The building should be renovated and it should be more accessible to customers so that they don’t have to think twice while visiting the branch. This can mean even changing the location owing to the heavy traffic problem it currently faces but steps need to be taken for more accessibility to the branch. The building should have a good ambience and the fixed assets like water cooler; air conditioner etc should be in proper working condition. If they break down, their repairment shouldn’t take long.

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