Seniority, Gender- Communication Barrier?

Summary:
The gender ratio is increasing in most of the firms. With women reaching higher
ranks, some men find it difficult to accept their superiority especially in a
patriarchal country like India. Most people also find it difficult to accept the
superiority of a younger boss. This is mostly significant in countries who strictly
follow the hierarchy.
Introduction:
Radiant Consultancy services is an IT consulting firm headquartered at
Bangalore. It is a 30-year-old company and currently operates in 15 countries
across the globe. It provides a list of information technology related products and
services such as application development, business process outsourcing,
capacity planning, consulting, etc. The revenues earned by the company have
been consistent. The current annual growth rate being 15%.
Vishal Bharadwaj was a senior consultant in the firm. He was hired as a junior
consultant 5 years ago as a BBA graduate. He has been working in the firm since
then. His project manager, Mr. Diwakar Rathore wrote in the annual performance
review form that Vishal might need to improve on relationship skills but is a
sincere, hardworking and dedicated employee. He has a success ratio of 80% in
his projects.
Astha Ray was hired three years ago for a junior consultant position as an MBA
graduate with stellar credentials from a prestigious institute. Diwakar got
promoted to a Principal and Astha was promoted to take the position that
Diwakar left. The promotion of Astha was mostly based on the excellent reviews
she got from her clients. Her peers felt that even though she spends less time at
work, she more than compensates with her relationship management skills which
satisfy her clients.
The firm received a consulting request from HRF international, an insurance
company. The company is about to launch a new insurance policy for
automobiles and a software upgradation is required for the same. The project is
allocated to Astha and her team needs to submit a proposal in a week. Astha
then asks the senior most employee in her team, Vishal to make the proposal to
be submitted within a week.
The Problem:
Vishal, who has worked earlier on a similar project, worked diligently to complete
the given task but he did not consult with Astha even once during the entire
process, because he is more experienced than Astha and also because of the
gender bias. Astha, on the other hand, hesitated to give orders or suggestions to
Vishal because she had never dealt with the automotive insurance industry
before. She did not want to show her lack of experience to her subordinates.
Moreover, she did not pass on the additional requirements that the firm gives in
between the week to Vishal because she assumed that an employee as
experienced as Vishal will keep himself up to date with the firms requirements
by interacting directly with the corresponding clients.

On the day of final submission of the proposal, Astha gets to see the proposal.
On seeing the proposal, she notices that the client requirements are not fully
addressed. The proposal was also very similar to that of Aviva insurance agency,
one of the leading firms in the insurance industry and a competitor of HRF
international. HRF international had asked to take Aviva insurance as a reference.
Vishal misunderstood and almost replicated Avivas portal with little innovations.
Astha still finds it difficult to confront Vishal due to the respect for his seniority
and calls in the entire team and criticises the work. Vishal, on the other hand,
sees this as an attempt to insult in front of his peers by a much younger female
boss. Vishal withdraws from the team leaving the entire presentation in the
hands of the rest of the team members and Astha. Vishal was in charge of the
proposal and none of the team members knew all the details of the proposal.
Impact:
Astha contacted HRF asking for an extension in the deadline. Though the firm
agreed after repeated requests, this created a negative image for the company
and also will have an effect on the performance rating of the team. Now the
proposal to be submitted to HRF international should be good enough so that the
client may be satisfied. This will be difficult as now they have lost their credibility.
Recommendations:
Identify the various barriers to communications visible in the case. Interorganisational miscommunication, miscommunication between Astha Diwakar,
miscommunication between Astha Vishal, no employee review process.
Preconceptions for gender bias and seniority on the basis of experience leading
to the lack of communication and also miscommunication.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Consultancy_Services