2005年初，HCL科技公司面對市場份額的減少而失去最有才華的員工其競爭對手，華創聯通面臨的一個基本問題–是足夠的危險公司應該嘗試改變自己之前是不是太晚了？或者它只是安然度過難關，希望事情變得更好？

傳統觀念認為企業必須始終把顧客放在第一位。然而，在任何服務業務中，真正的值是在客戶和雇員之間的接口創建的。因此，通過把員工放在第一位，我們就可以為公司創造和提供獨特價值給客戶帶來根本性的改變，使其與競爭對手區別開來。通過聘用員工和負責任的管理相結合，一個公司可以創造非凡的價值，為自己，客戶和個人參與這兩家公司。因此，當一個公司把員工放在第一位時，顧客最終會首先獲得最大的利益。

 

Introduction 簡介

 

In early 2005, HCL Technologies faced with decreasing market share and losing its most talented employees to its competitors, HCLT faced a fundamental question – is the company in enough danger that it should attempt to transform itself before it’s too late? Or should it just ride out the storm and hope for things to get better? This was the time when Mr. Vineet Nayar (former CEO of HCLT) came into picture, the man behind turning conventional management upside down. He was born and spent most of his childhood inPantnagar, a town in the foothill of Uttarakhand. He completed his schooling from Campus School Pantnagar. He studied for aB.Techin mechanical engineering from College of Technology, G.B.Pant University and a Masters in Business Management at the XLRI Jamshedpur in India. Due to the diverse background of technology and management he viewed the pyramid i.e., hierarchy level inverted; that changed it all. This book is an epitome for conventional HR practices and depicts clearly how things can be brought back to normal rather better than being only normal with the help of humans. Perhaps, it gives the insight how people becomes the most valuable asset of every company.

 

Conventional wisdom says that companies must always put the customer first. In any services business, however, true value is created at the interface between the customer and the employee. So by putting employees first, we can bring about fundamental change in the way a company creates and delivers unique value for its customers and differentiates itself from its competitors. Through a combination of engaged employees and accountable management, a company can create extraordinary value for itself, its customers and the individuals involved in both companies. Thus, when a company puts its employees first, the customer actually does ultimately come first and gains the greatest benefits.

 

Leadership is about exercising leadership by mobilising the resources one has. HCL’s CEO Mr. Vineet Nayar actually exercised adaptive leadership where he first judges the situation and shaped up the solution as per the requirements. Leaders need to look closely at the employees who are creating the most value for customers. Without them, the company would have nothing but a shell with layers and layers of management or aggregators with controls and processes that had nothing to offer to the customers.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Analysis 分析

 

Organizational design forms the most important part of every organization because it brings the purpose of creating an organization’s structure and setting a definite culture. Culture is inherited, an intangible aspect which binds the people of an organization.

 

This book gives the insight of how simple rules and practices can bring in big changes. The book describes four phases of the EFCS journey, broadly categorised as-

 

Looking in the mirror – Creating the need for change

Trust through transparency: Creating a culture of change

Inverting the organizational pyramid: Building a structure for change

Recasting the role of the CEO: Transferring the responsibility for change

To go deep, each and every aspect can be analysed separately.

 

Looking in the mirror – Creating the need for change

 

A company’s performance is just one aspect of where it is. This position needs to be placed in relation to the entire landscape of the industry in which it operates and to see how it is evolving. One need to analyse the fundamental changes in the industry and translate this knowledge to the employees to help them see the truth of a new point for the industry and the own company’s position within it. Companies often will choose not to change because they have become tolerant of gradual change that did not match the rapid change of the industry. The pride one takes in their own work and their past makes it difficult to hear the truth. But it is very important for employees to participate and accept the reality.

 

In trying to engage staff members to get on board with a new strategy for change, often 3 types of people are encountered: The transformers, the lost souls and fence sitters. The transformers have been waiting for a long time for change to come and are often aggressive and even angry with the company and its situation. They want change, and they want it fast, as they are frustrated with the lack of change that they have thought necessary over time.

 

Lost souls are the ones sitting with frowns on their faces feeling that whatever is proposed is hopeless and wrong. They are convinced that there is nothing you can do, and no plan you can follow that would ever change anything.

 

Fence sitters are the largest group who speak up the least and rarely ask questions, and who adopt a watch and wait philosophy.

 

This process of holding up a mirror and looking at the reality of the organisation as a starting point for change is one element in a continuous cycle of change that companies need to undergo in order to keep up to date with their world. It should happen periodically throughout a company’s life, not just once. It is the key to creating the necessary aspiration for change, by helping the organisation to see the reality of its situation, to create dissatisfaction with the status quo and to build a hunger for change in the company.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Trust through transparency: Creating a culture of change

 

The essence of this strategy involved three main thrusts:

 

1. Firstly, to offer flexibility and transparency of a kind customers have never seen before. 2. Secondly, to sharply focus on value centricity, meaning to put all the company’s energy into increasing the value it is creating for customers, rather than trying to build the volume of business it does with them. 3. Thirdly, and most importantly, to set a new standard for the value the company can actually deliver, by unleashing the positive energy and passion of the company’s employees, which will create a boost in the value zone that will become the company’s major differentiator.

 

The trust quotient- The first challenge the company faced after deciding on this bold, risky plan was the trust quotient. While many people might be convinced by an idea through the stirring speech of a great orator, they probably will not trust that the idea can be executed.

The Nature of Trust- Credibility, Reliability, Intimacy & Self?orientation

Giving everyone access to information- This allows everybody in the organisation to see all the business units and the company’s financial data. When this is done, people are able to see which business units are doing well compared with other units. Employees gain a true picture of the overall performance of the company.

Opening up the office of the CEO- Opening up the office of the CEO was another method employed by HCLT to increase transparency in the organisation. This involved providing people in the organisation with a way to interact with the CEO and get the answers they wanted from the leadership.

Employees First Customers Second- Each company should undergo a mirror exercise on a regular basis to identify the true situation within the company. Then each company should find its own methods and catalysts, like those employed by HCLT, to increase transparency and trust and cultivate a culture for change. Catalysts are simple actions, rather than elaborate programmes of organisational transformation that go on for years, but they can help transform a company culture into one that is constantly changing.

Inverting the Organizational Pyramid – Building a structure for change

 

HCLT found that employees in the value zone were as accountable to enabling services such as finance, HR, training and development quality and administration, as they were to their immediate managers. While these functions were supposed to be supporting the employees in the value zone, the reality was somewhat different. Employees had virtually no power over the enabling functions, and if they had any problems they would have to go to their managers for help. Managers served as go€?betweens and arbitrators who sorted out problems between employees and support staff –herein lay their power, not in value creation, but in relieving bottlenecks. Thus, inverted the hierarchy by introducing factors like 360 Degree survey, the Smart Service Desk etc.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Recasting the role of the CEO: Transferring the Responsibility for change

 

If an organisation remains highly centralized, with the office of the CEO at the centre of everything, it is acting like a spider. Organisations need to become more like the starfish and transfer more of the responsibility for change to the employees. Only in this way can an organisation continue to focus on the value zone and put employees first as the company continues to grow and change. Some of the measures taken to ensure the same were Additions to the online communication portal, engaging the whole person etc.

 

Conclusion 結論

 

Employees First, Customers Second’ should be seen as a cycle of activity, a journey that begins over and over again. Each time it is played out it comes up with new catalysts that continue to push the boundaries so that the company can change further. This is essential because the world of business is changing in fundamental ways, including rapidly evolving customer needs, greater regulation, a levelling of the competitive playing field and the ever ?changing nature of risk and ethics