Reaching Bottom of The Chain

Abstract

Indraprastha Power having a history of being led by bureaucrats before acquisition had two plants in the state of Maharashtra in India. The technicians and workmen were used to solving their own problems and reporting them to their officers. The daily performance analysis did not reach the general manager of the generation department, who headed the department, but there was a practice to submit the proposals for new projects. However, this situation completely changed when Raman Kumar joined the company in 1998 as General Manager of the department, who introduced the concept of frequent meetings with his subordinate officers and also direct communication with technicians and workmen. He was successful in changing the culture of the organisation, while taking people along, open communication and transparency resulted in fearlessness amongst workmen and teams were rewarded for showing better performance. Personal interest in tackling routine issues encouraged on the spot decisions. The company achieved the highest generation in its history and Raman Kumar had ideas for taking the organisation further.