Like that of many long-running family businesses (Sainsbury,
Toyota, and S.C. Johnson), Tata culture can best be understood as a reflection
of the founder’s beliefs and ingenuity, honed through generations.
J.N. Tata studied to
be a priest in the Parsi religion (also known as Zoroastrianism), but pursued a
commercial career because he believed he could do more for more people that
way.
As a fervent nationalist and entrepreneur, he sought to amass
enough wealth and influence to elevate the Indian people and their communities,
helping to prepare them for a struggle against British rule. Although he
eschewed the priesthood, Tata remained loyal to the tenets of the sect. The
bedrock of this tiny religion (there are only 23,000 Parsis in India and
100,000 worldwide) is the notion that a life well lived must dedicate itself to
charity and justice.
The Tata
name in itself is a unique asset representing leadership with trust.
As any
‘Tata person’ will tell you, there’s something positively distinctive,
something less than completely explainable, about working for the group – the
experience is cast in a hue quite different from the ordinary.
By
developing a structure, systems and a workplace culture that provides challenging
jobs, rewards performance and delivers opportunities continuously, they strive
to get the best out of their employees. Their employee turnover is as low as
below 10 per cent.
There are many companies under TATA but all of them in
general reward their employees less with giant salaries and bonuses and more
with a sense of belonging to an elite organization with an impact on the world.
This blue-chip attitude is reinforced by strict standards for integrity and ethical
conduct.
The Culture of TCS is observed to be highly ethical. It is highly
networked although the job responsibilities and positions of employees are
clearly defined. This helps the employees settle down in the organization
quickly and effectively along with giving them the autonomy to bring out the
best in themselves. This is well exemplified by the fact that even the CEO of
the company is addressed by his first name. TCS is also one that supports
growth and learning by providing and facilitating platforms for individuals to
innovate and experiment even if that is not a direct requirement of their
project. One of the most striking features of this company is that employees
are referred to as associates and not ’employees’. This reflects the pride the
company wants to experience in being ‘associated’ with the concerned
individuals and holds them as important and superior as the company itself.
However, since TCS is huge organization with approximately
170,000 employees, many-a-times underutilization of human resources is observed
before the project allocation. Hence periods of inactivity is observed in such
cases. The size of the company and it’s well defined hierarchy is centralized
at higher management level and localized at domain or vertical level. The
company is also studied to be too customer driven even when it’s not a part of
the customer requirement or specification.
Tata’s culture of service can be seen after the November 26,
2008, terrorist attack in Mumbai, which badly damaged Tata’s flagship TajMahal
Palace hotel. The hotel was repaired and reopened less than a month after the
attack. Indian Hotels, Tata’s hospitality company, directly oversaw the medical
treatment of injured staff members and paid generous health and school tuition
benefits (including the assignment of a counsellor for life) to the families of
all slain individuals, including railway employees, police officers, and passers-by
who had had no direct connection with the hotel before the attack.
TATAs
relationship with their employees is a bond that continues to be nourished with
compassion and care.
Powering
this relationship is an entire range of human resource initiatives aimed at
realizing the potential of and, consequently, maximizing the returns from Tata
employees.
Robust leadership-development systems that
accelerate the development of current and potential leaders, a performance
culture that’s calibrated through rigorous processes, and reward mechanisms
that are among the best in the corporate world.
The
richness of this relationship, fashioned by a tradition of compassion and
empathy, represents a workplace culture that goes way beyond work.