Saturday, 10 June 2017

TATA Motors move towards a flatter Organisational Structure

By Rahul Chugh

TATA Motors has decided to scrap designations and create a flatter organisation as it looks to establish an environment in which teamwork-inspired creativity can flourish. The company told employees in a circular that the move will create a “mindset free of designations and hierarchy”.
Designations such as general manager, senior general manager, deputy general manager, vice-president and senior vice-president are among those that will be consigned to the scrapheap.  All managers with a team reporting to them will simply have the job title of ‘head,’ followed by the function or department after their names. Employees who are individual contributors, are largely at the front end and do not have any team member reporting to them will use just the function or department after their name.
People can now focus on work instead of their designations, Gajendra S Chandel, chief human resources officer at Tata Motors said. The move will enable the company to move away from routine promotions that an employee gets purely by virtue of time spent in harness.
Tata Motors hired Accenture to devise a strategy to prepare the company to face competition. Scania, Bharat Benz and Volvo are leaner and meaner in comparison. Market leader Tata Motors has been facing aggressive competition in the commercial vehicle space from these companies.
Though flatter organisational structure improves the coordination and speed of communication between employees, it may make employee retention difficult. Lack of future career opportunity and a lack of recognition is a major reason because of which workers leave their jobs. With no designation, there are fewer roles that enable employees to familiarise themselves with management responsibilities. It makes it much harder for people to see a clear path for their progress up the corporate ladder.
Removing the designations may not necessarily be the right thing to do. Indians generally place a lot of emphasis on hierarchy and designation, but how the company is going to balance the aspiration of its young workforce versus the need for a flatter organisation given the premium that Indians lay on social hierarchy needs to be seen.



No comments:

Post a Comment