MANAGING HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Learning Diary
By
Rahul Bighane G15101
General Management Program - XLRI

LEARNING DIARY- MANAGING HUMAN BEHAVIOR AT WORK PART 2

Learning Diary Q&A
By Rahul Bighane (G15101)
Q1. Identify a conflict you lost miserably from the past.
You have taken a stand for the benefit of the firm, still failed to get enough support to implement it. Based on
the learnings from the class, identify
a. Identifying stakeholders
b. Thorough analysis
c. Conflict analysis
d. A strategic response based on analysis
Answer 1:
Situation: I was working as a lead for an ongoing transformation program for Vodafone Ireland. As part of the
responsibilities, I was asked to share my existing knowledge work of the application to the support team. Since
the team was based in a location that was not preferred by client (Jaipur) and the resources were all new to the
team, I was asked to take responsibility of leading the team and managing the support project. I had to shift
reporting managers and develop new rapport with the new project manager. After having completed a
successful stint of training the team members and making them ready for the project, I was asked to continue in
the same project since they were unable to find a lead on the same technology in Jaipur.
During the project, since the major decision making was being done at my location (Hyderabad), there was a
disparity in decision making people and where the team was located. Another senior joined the project from
Jaipur and there was a delay in decision making as both of us were on conflict for the decision process. This lead
to failure in process as a Service Level agreement was breached (SLA) and this was noticed by client. I took a
stand to resolve the conflict and discussed the same with my manager. Since there was a locational bias, I was
asked to step down from the decision making process and client interaction. This was followed up with a bad
mid-year appraisal due to the SLA breach. This led to formation of a bad relationship between the development
and support teams & also their PMs.
Inside Stakeholders:

Offshore Delivery Team

Project Manager
Support Team
Support Project Manager
Delivery Manager

Outside Stakeholder:

Client (Vodafone)
HR Department
Senior management
Other country project team for Vodafone

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New joinees

Conflict Analysis:
The proposed solution by me was that either one (Lead at Jaipur or myself) do the decision making since we
were not working in the same location and were of different mindset in most problems. Since I was pulled into
this project from another project, I was not happy with the idea of another lead doing the decision making when
he has not undergone any training. This was majorly impacting the team members as they were mostly staying
back late nights as they were not meeting the requirements of the new lead. I was being called at odd times
after work to take up activities. I took this issue with the management and asked for a release since I was not
happy with the activities going on. Later on, I got to know through my informal network that it was a senior
project manager who did not like the idea of decision making & process being controlled at Hyderabad when the
senior project manager was sitting in Jaipur with his team. I approached him for a solution but neither was he
willing to release me nor was he letting me be involved in the decision making process. This impacted my
performance grade and hence I miserably thought that I lost a conflict where I was thinking for the better of the
team/organization but failed to implement it.
Strategic Response:
Since I failed in the process, I realized I should have approached the situation with better strategy and mindset. I
was initially asked to setup the team at Jaipur, I should have stepped down after having completed the
transition process and undergoing the promotion. I made the mistake of taking the promotion as a sign of good
faith and hence continued in the project despite being not too happy with the project. At every step, I should
have done a thorough analysis of the task, expectations and inducements. When the new lead was introduced, I
should have transferred my knowledge and asked for a release by pressurizing the manager as the support
project did not require two leads.
Else there could be a divide in team members to work with leads. This would have led to smooth process as
developers would not have had issues working with multiple leads. They would be clear in their requirements
without any decision making conflicts.
The early resolution of the conflict would have led to a better work life for the team members and also there
would have been no SLA breach. Overall performance, motivation and satisfaction of all team members would
have improved. Proper resolution would have showed me in good light by conducting the training for the new
team but it projected me in a bad sense as I was needed for the project and I was requesting for a release from
the project. There should have been more persuasive and smart settlement required from my end.

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Q2. Reflect on the multiple partnership your organization has or having right now. Do they need any
modification? Explain with reason. Did the partnerships change?
Answer 2:
Global Alliance Partners:
This partnership focuses on developing solutions that incorporate the intellectual property (IP) of Infosys as well
as technology and services from the alliance partners. There is sponsorship to drive joint strategic initiatives in
areas such as S/4HANA, cloud, business networks, mobility, and platforms across all major industries,
geographies, and lines-of- business
Partners:

IBM
Microsoft
Oracle
SAP

Other Technical Partners: EMC, MicroStrategy, Netezza, Red Hat, Software AG, SAS, JDA Software.
Customer Partnerships:
Adobe: Joint campaigns with Adobe help reach out to our target customers faster than ever. Infosys is a
Specialized Adobe Experience Manager Partner for North America
Amazon Web Services: Infosys and AWS are investing together to create new digital marketing solutions, lower
ERP costs.
Hewlett Packard: Infosys has jointly developed solutions for testing, quality, service management, asset
management, and service automation.
Adidas: Infosys has created an IT partnership with adidas to lower total cost of ownership, increasing agility, and
reducing complexity.
Vendors:
At the various development centers in India, Infosys has created multiple partnerships with chains such as Caf
Coffee Day, Barista, de Thali, Dominos Pizza and Mad about Donuts to provide food services in the various
centers in India. Besides this, there are tie-ups with local vendors such as ISKCON to provide to subsidized food
items in the food courts on campus.
For the development of its employees, Infosys has developed partnerships with local vendors for providing
training courses in French, Spanish, and German etc. so that employees looking to move to onsite or develop
their language skills can do it on campus. Besides this, there is a tie up with KALA Photography for courses in
various painting formats.
Acquisitions:
Skava: Infosys acquired Kallidus (Skava) and its affiliate, a leading provider of digital experience solutions,
including mobile commerce and in-store shopping experiences to large retail clients.

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Considering the large number of retail clients of Infosys, this platform enables retailers to provide a mobile
specific experience to their customers through an agile and flexible environment, enabling personalization and
delivering customer analytics across multiple channels.
Panaya: Panaya, Inc., a leading provider of automation technology for large scale enterprise software
management was acquired in cash, for an enterprise value of USD 200 million. This enhances the
competitiveness and productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation, innovation and artificial
intelligence.
With the large number of partnerships, acquisitions and tie-ups Infosys has been able to maintain its strategy with
every deal it has cracked. They do not need much modification. Infosys is now an Oracle Diamond level partner,
the highest level of partnership possible. Also, SAP and Infosys have made more concrete partnerships under the
new management of Dr. Sikka. All the partnerships the company has are aiming to drive the company as top
business leader in future technology in IP domain. The company has to manage these partnerships well to reach
its goal of becoming a $20 billion firm by 2020.
There could be certain modifications made in terms of tie-ups with vendors for food. Since each development
center has its culture differences, there should be more of local tie ups that standard ones to improve employee
satisfaction. There should be modifications made in the deal with EdgeVerve as employees who were initially
Infosys employees and working on the same technology have now become EdgeVerve employees to focus on
specific technology and research. It could lead to issues of incompatibility between the new employees of Edge
Verve and who are working with Infosys. Since these employees would be given incentives that are different
from others, it could lead to conflicts between management and employees in both Infosys and Edge Verve.

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Q4. Try to evaluate yourself in your previous organization based on 3 informal networks which was discussed
in the class.
Answer 4:
1. The advice network shows the prominent players in the organization on whom others depend to solve
problem and provide technical information.
2. The trust network tells which employee share delicate information and back one another in a crisis.
3. The communication network reveals the employees who talk about work related matter on regular
basis
As part of my projects at Infosys, I was part of all 3 informal networks as our project was over 2 years in
progress. After having become a senior team member, I was part of the advice network where my Project
Manager, clients, team members and trainees contacted me for any technical, process or domain related
issue. Having worked hands-on on various client deliverables, architecture and solutions, I developed a trust
factor with my peers and juniors and hence they were not hesitant to consider me in their advice network as
well. When critical issues needed to be resolved, there was an informal advice team of 4 members (Project
Manager, Architect, Lead Consultant and Tech Lead (myself)). We used to discuss the issue at hand over
calls, live meetings to come up with a plan and RCA to discuss with the clients and also to work on
temporary solutions/fix to minimize the damage/loss. Based on the networking skill, I was identified as a
client resource and reported directly to the CTO of Vodafone Ireland. We developed a good relationship
amongst ourselves and hence were even able to extend our advice network on a personal level.
Having worked for over a year with my project manager & architect, I developed a trust network with them.
In case of new opportunities, projects and onsite chances, there was a discussion to finalize the plan of
action, resourcing and scheduling of activities before discussing the same with all team members. The trust
network developed based on our leadership skills and how we were able to manager critical issues. As a
network, we were able to cut through the formal processes and focus on the solution. When I was assigned
to a new project in mid-year, my PM and Architect were very helpful in helping me approach senior
management when I was awarded a lower appraisal rating.
In Infosys, my communication network was wide spread based on my project. Since Vodafone was present
throughout Europe, we had separate managers for each country. Hence, besides my team of 8 members, I
was able to interact with other project managers, leads and consultants to talk about work related matters.
In case of work related issues, I was able to connect with my senior and project manager who would guide
me towards the correct path. I was also in the communication network of my junior team members. They
would regularly interact with me on progress, updates and issues at work before approaching management.
Based on the networks that were discussed above, we were able to create a new team structure that
focused on consulting and research rather than just delivery.

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Q5. Present the structure of your organization and name the structure at different levels. Don't consider very
large firms in its entirety.
Answer 5:
Management Structure at Infosys Limited

Infosys has over 160000 employees worldwide, with majority working in technical roles and working in job band
3 & 4. Job bands are (3-7) above which there are VP & CXO roles.
There is multi divisional organization structure from the management perspective. The COO, delivery unit heads
for functional roles (Quality, Information Systems, HR, Education & Learning etc.), products (Finacle, ILI etc.),
CFO & directors reporting to the CEO & MD.
Each entity is a self-contained division with interactions with other teams. For e.g. (Delivery and Quality teams
need to work parallel on projects). There are functional units to provide support to all divisions (Information
Systems, Leadership Institute, HRD, Admin etc.). Units are organized into sales, delivery and business-enabling
functions.
COO & Director interact and are responsible to head most vertical units (MFG, BFSI, Energy, Retail, Insurance
etc.). They have centralized decision making power considering the overall growth of the firm.
Dependent units/divisions have a common reporting head (Since most projects/clients related to Product
Engineering are from Manufacturing, so Product Lifecycle Engg Solutions, Product Engg and the Manufacturing
unit have a common head to have centralized decision making process).These heads are responsible for the
growth and addition of clients for their verticals. There are functional sub-divisions in each vertical. For e.g.. , the

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Manufacturing unit has its Quality, Development, Integration and Consulting units. The resources in these units
are part of a specific horizontal & vertical (Manufacturing & Quality).
They have sub-unit orientation towards their clients/projects from their functional/technical perspective.
The Legal, Finance, CS and Risk Management Corporate units report to the CFO. He is responsible for the
financial well-being of the IT consulting firm.
Corporate Planning and Business Assurance/Continuity is a separate vertical unit based out of the base location
in Bangalore.
Unit and Project Team Structure:
These are headed by delivery heads based on geographical locations (Banking Delivery heads for India, AMEA,
Europe etc.). Reporting to these delivery heads are group project managers who are responsible for business
with certain clients or growth in a geographical region (Vodafone in Europe). Each group manager has project
managers reporting to him. Project managers are responsible for certain projects, geographical regions or
products. Each project manager has a team reporting to him. These team are usually technical staff (Architects,
Leads, Software Engineers, and QA Analysts). The structure is organic in each project team. Functional
differentiation is high. In such a structure decision making is slow and expensive, since there are multiple vertical
levels for important decisions to be made, hence a lot of authority and financial decisional power is shared with
project managers.

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Q6. Explain the relationship between contingency factors and the structure presented in Q5. Also, incorporate
the details about the environment in which they operate (culture, goals & strategy, technology, size etc.)
Answer 6:
Contingency Factors:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Environmental
Culture
Goals & Strategy
Technology
Size

Environment:
In a competitive IT market, Infosys maintains the highest standards for Quality, Consulting. It is a CMMI 5
company. 21st in the world to achieve CMMI 5 rating.
Learning areas include technology, management, leadership, cultural, communication & other soft skills.
Depending on the size of the project & clients, the decision making could be centralized or de-centralized. But in
all projects there will be good amount decentralization. For top clients of Infosys, there are delivery heads
specifically assigned for each client.
In times of change in the IT industry, Infosys looks to get into new sectors such as Artificial Intelligence and apply
its uses in applications for clients. Analytics, mobile computing is the future in IT and Infosys has tried to
overcome the gap by acquiring innovative firms in these sectors.
To reduce retention, there are now employee friendly policies that provide more freedom to employees without
approval from senior management. Decision making is becoming more de-centralized to allow quicker decision
making and providing more power to middle management.
Employees are allowed to switch domains, units and roles (from technology to pre-sales etc) as per their
interest.
Culture:
With employees from over 83 countries, there has to be cultural understanding of employees from each part of
the world. In countries such as US, Europe and AMEA, employees are hired in senior management, sales,
technology consulting roles. The workplace recognizes the unique skills of professionals irrespective of gender,
ethnicity or nationality.
By setting global standards, development centers ensure good work life balance inside the campus.
The key ingredients of culture at Infosys are:

Innovative
Outcome oriented
Stable
People Oriented

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Team Oriented
Detail Oriented

There is a shift happening in organization culture as mandatory ties are removed from Monday & Tuesday
because employees are not facing clients on a regular basis. Formal wear rule has now been relaxed which
shows the forward & open mindset of the new management.

Goals & Strategy:

Infosys takes pride in building strategic partnerships with long term clients. 90% + revenues come from existing
clients.
The management lead was usually taken by co-founders of the company. Since there was no out of the box
thinking & development happening in the IT giant, Dr. Vishal Sikka from SAP was hired as the CEO and MD of
Infosys considering his research and technology based mindset.
Open door policies by senior management ensure that employees are happy and not bound by strict rules &
regulations.
Technology:
To focus development in the future technologies, it has invested $100 million in startups and joint ventures with
Stanford and MIT in Artificial Intelligence, Mobile Computing etc.
Considering the slow growth of the IT firm, it has acquired multiple companies that are based on futuristic
technologies & automation processes that will help Infosys garner into new fields & domains.
Automation of process and optimization/utilization of resources is in progress. This will help reduce the
workforce in the long run by minimizing or eliminating need of expensive middle management.
Size:
Infosys has a global footprint with 65+ offices and 74 Development Centers in US, India, China, Australia, Japan,
Middle East, UK, Germany , France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland, Canada, etc.
With facilities such as sports, gym, food courts, parks, incubation centers, learning buildings, libraries there is
enough facilities to keep the campus abuzz. HR organize events in units to recognize talent in different fields.

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