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GROUP ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION

Section A: Group Details:

Assignment No.:A2

E.g. A1 / A2 / A3 / A4

Batch:IIMP

E.g. SCMLD

Session Day & Time:Thrus-I

E.g. Mon I/ Sun II

Group Colour:Black

E.g. Green / Fl. Pink

Section B: Assignment Details:

Assignment Topic:Selling the brand inside

E.g. Functional Matrices

Training Topic & Session:Problem Solving-I

E.g. Negotiation - I

Submission Date & Time:Wednesday- 1:00 p.m.

E.g. Tuesday - 01:00

p.m.

Section C: Group Members:

No. Name Div. & Roll No. PC PN AB Grade

1. Nikhil Avinashe A-05 Y A 2. Simranjeet Wahan C-56 Y A 3. Prajkta Bamane B-01 Y A

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4. Priyanka Ingale A-33 Y A 5. Priyanka Lahoti C-28 Y A 6. Preeti Deshkulkarni B-07 Y A 7. Ajay Pathrudkar B-47 Y A 8. Nilesh Khamkar B-36 Y A 9. Ravi Patel B-46 Y A 10. Dhanashree Ambekar A-04 Y A 11. GopaKumar Menon C-30 Y A 12. Mohammad Qasemzada C-61 Y A

Remarks:

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VERTEX

SOFTWARE PVT.

LTD.

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COMPANY VISITED: Vertex Software Pvt. Ltd

Person Meet: Mr. Sanjay Khorate.( Vice President)

Branch: Aundh

Date and Time: 24th February 2011, 3.00pm

The scope of this project is to know

a) How does vertex sell the brand inside?

b) If we were the managers, how would we sell the brand inside the company?

c) How to utilize physical places in our college emotionally to connect the student with Indira

Institue.

Company Profile

Vertex is the offshore division of one of the worlds largest and fastest growing IT

services firm NTT Data from Japan. Vertex blends North American innovation with Global

Capabilities and Japanese Quality. Vertex has a vast pool of talent and infrastructure to support

their goal of being one of the largest IT services firm in the world.

It provides the services in Product development, Mobile technology, SAP services, software

testing, etc.

Part A

Application of the article

Before jumping to the application of the article by the company its noteworthy to

consider a brief overview of the working environment within the company. Considering the

emotional connection of the employees toward the company we need to consider the values the

company stands for. Openness, Trust and Transparency, are the three values of the Vertex, which

the company upholds

Openness

Vertex tries to maintain a hierarchy less organization i.e. they try following a flat

organization. The merit for the same is that it allows employees to be freer with their top

management and power for the employees is not majorly derived from the position they hold in

the organization. This has helped Vertex to have an open door policy in their organization. So

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every employee can directly approach to every person in organization at any point of time. This

helps in building the emotional connection with the employees as they dont feel disconnected

with the top management just due to the position they hold in the organization and secondly they

can address their grievances without much hesitance.

Trust

Trust is another value of the company and it also helps to build an emotional connection

for the employees. This can be said because of "EnVision" - A committee with representation

from a cross-section of vertex employees that has taken on activities as developing salary

structure with variable performance based component, coordinating training programs and

various other critical initiatives. Through this committee employees are themselves empowered

to take decisions such as the number of days they would not want to work. Thus the management

in turn shifts the locus of control towards the employees themselves and they are made to feel as

the stakeholders of the company. This all in turn helps to build trust with the employees towardsthe company.

Transparency

Transparency is the third value on which the company stands and this value in turn feeds

the level of trust among the employees. Transparency is manifested through the declaration of

the quarterly financial performance of the company to the employees in their meeting. Thus as

many organization never disclosed their financial status to their employees, the employees of

vertex company feel more emotionally connected as they are more aware of the financial health

of the company and this in turn makes them feels like the stakeholder of company. Wheneverthey would take any decision they would consider the financial implications of it. There is also a

question answers session with management after the declaration, which helps in clarifying all

doubts of employees. They increase the awareness towards the long term plans of the

organization.

These three values are pillars of the vertexs work culture. This helps employees to build

a strong bond with Vertex.

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The application of the 3 principles.

Principle 1: Choose your Moment.

The article spoke of using a turning point to bring in new change initiatives. As a matter

of fact just recently two of the founder members of the company quit the organization . This

did create some uneasiness among the employees and also increased the receptivity of the

employees towards the next move of the employee. Vertex did handle the situation fairly well.

They held a meeting with the employees and conveyed the reason behind as to why the founder

members quit and assured to help them in any situation. Further, the message conveyed to

different levels of management was unified. The company especially made the retiring founder

members have a chat especially with the older employees as they were more emotionally

connected to the organization. Also as the receptivity of the employees was at peak levels at this

time they considered it wise to convey to the employees to have a more inclusive leadership

development among the employees. However the company did miss the bus in some matters

such as reinforcing their values or communicating and selling a new growth strategy of the

company. However this will be discussed latter.

Vertex does not do anything to create an artificial momentum on a similar scale as did

happen when the founder leaders did quit from the organization however they do a yearly

performance appraisal cycle to bring a change in work force. They assess each and every

employee on the basis of various parameters. The low performer employees are requested to quit

organization happily. This keeps the employees always on their toes for performance. In this

process 1-2% of employees are churned out of the organization. On the basis of these

performance reviews, the improvement programs are designed. Because of this yearly appraisal

cycle, there was no layoff in the recession period. One noteworthy point from the preceding

Opennes

TrustTransparency

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discussion is that an artificial momentum is created on a subliminal level where after such

performance appraisals there is an increased receptivity towards what the company is actually

heading.

Principle 2: Linking internal Marketing to External Marketing:

Vertex extensively uses the marketing team for internal communication with the

employees. Due to this there is no gap between customer requirement and expectation from

employees. Every employee knows the costumer requirement through their marketing team. The

promises which are made to their clients are also communicated to employees also.

Vertex also ensures that the same message is heard by both the employees and the

client. For example, the company once had delayed in their project for a north airline company.

The delay was by 10 days. However the company got the employees and the client under the

same roof and told about the problems the company was facing and also requested for any

solutions from their side to solve the problem. However the future expectation after the meeting

by the client was clearly communicated to the employee and the delivery performance of the

employees was also made known to the client. This also helped to reduce the conflict between

the company and the client.

Vertex is also trying to achieve a relatively new line of business by selling the idea to

their employees. They have recently ventured into the business of Quality Assurance and by

selling the message to the top management as well as the middle level management they have

been able to create a team of 70 members within a span of 1 year which is a high achievement

for the company in such a short duration of time. It is has also become a differentiating point ofcompany from its competitors. They are also in the process of increasing their budget for quality

assurance from $25 billion to $153 Billion.

When asked about the tagline of the company so that there could be a way to link both

the customers and the employees of the company, the company's response was dismal as they did

not have a tagline for themselves.

The company does not have an advertisement through the internet or through journals

where they target both the employees and the customers through such advertisements. They also

dont create a gap between the expectation of the client and the delivery by the employees.This is not so advisable a practice as it is better to have a slight gap between the two as it will

make the employees strive more in their delivery to the clients.

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Principle 3: Bringing Brands alive

As this principle is more concerned about making the brand more pronounced to the

employee's through internal campaigns, Vertex's performance in this area has not been very

satisfactory. They do not have a specific campaign aimed at selling the values of the

company or the strategies to the employees. For e.g. Vertex does not have a vision and mission.

They are in dilemma whether to go with the Vision and Mission of Data NTT corp. (parent

company) or to develop their own. Vertex does however have messages communicated through

posters and digital display but extent to which it sells the message is poor. Following are some

messages which are communicated to employees through internal media.

The company just launched the Go Green campaign, in which the paper usage within the

company is reduced. Instead of paper they use electronic media to communicate with employees.

For this purpose they have very strong intranet facility within the company. Another initiative

taken by the company is Walk The Mile, in which the employees are encouraged to walk asmuch as they can. This will use to create awareness about air pollution.

To induce the positive thinking within the employee they have a weekly wall post called

as Positive Thought. Every employee has to come up with motivational and encouraging

thought. They also have the weekly photography competition. The theme is selected for every

week on the basis of that photographs are assessed. This leads to healthy competition within the

organization.

Once in year, they organize the Vertex Premier League. This is a cricket competition like

IPL, in which the owners of the company owns the teams of employees. They have cricketmatches between them. This helps to create emotional bond with employees and it also enhance

the sportsmanship within the employees.

Vertex also conducts satisfaction surveys for its employees twice a year where they

probe into the problems faced by the employees not only in the area of their work but also as to

how they are managing their work and life balance. Through such survey help to design better

strategies for more employee satisfaction they are not however focused on selling their brand in

terms of values and future growth to the company. For e.g. they do not rate their employees as to

how are they conforming with the values the company stands for.

Following the survey there is no specific campaign being designed as is specified in the

article. However they do make use oftechnology for feedback purposes. For e.g. they make

use of intranet where employees can be open about their problems and their issues will be

addressed to the top management. Also in terms ofpersonal contact from the top management

Vertex's performance is quite satisfactory and they have been able to achieve this through the use

of technology like the intranet.

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Part B

This part would consider the changes we could implement if we were the mangers of the

company. The changes mentioned below have been for each principle and would encompass the

things which are ignored as of now by the company along with new ways to deliver messages.

Principle 1: Choose your moment

Under this principle, we can consider the following points:

The company has not created a artificial momentum on the same scale as when thefounder members had left the company thus it could create an artificial moment which

may be considered a turning point and at the same time bring in a new tagline or logo that

would resonate with the staff views. This can be done through Kotters Eight step

process, as follows:

1) Create Urgency

2) Form a powerful coalition

3) Create a vision or change

4) Communicate the vision

5) Remove obstacles

6) Create short term wins

7) Build on the change

8) Anchor the changes in corporate culture

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In the case of Vertex a turning point was presented a few days back, due to a change inthe leadership. Two co-founders of the company are shifting base and have played a

positive role in maintaining the employees faith within the organization. In such a

situation, as mentioned in part A the company has not exploited the situation to a on a

higher scale. Making use of the situation, the company can introduce its own set of

Vision and mission which are lacking to-date. The introduction of a new tag-line with the

vision and mission will give a new sense of direction to the employees, also boosting

their morale.

The introduction of the above mentioned changes can be best undertaken in the following

ways:

Face to face interviews / discussions with the management where it could be done in

groups of 3this would have a direct impact in giving them a sense of direction and

encouraging the employees to adopt the values of the organization.

Extracurricular by the employeesthis can be done by manifesting those principles in a

game. For e.g. as Vertex already conducts a photography competition among the

employees, the theme of the photography could be one where it would resonate with the

companys growth and values. This would have the involvement if the employees on a

subliminal level.

Vertex, as a company has grown tremendously in the past few years. Similarly, it isexpecting a higher growth rate in the future years to come. As of now, in comparison to

the base levels, the company has had a growth of almost 300%. The company currently

portrays a turnover of Rs. 400 million, and plans to achieve a growth of Rs. 1000 million

in the future. The company has vastly expanded from a small size company to a middle

size company, and is now in the transition phase from moving into a big size firm. This

transition phase if used effectively can be successfully converted into a turning point for

the organization. The same can be used to effectively market the core values of the

company, effectively to the employees. They can be converted from employees to the

brand employees of the organization.

Vertex could use the time when it has its quarterly results as a time to create a momentumwhich would increase receptivity to change. This can be done if the company does have a

long term goal and the quarterly meetings are to review the progress and the future

strategies to achieve the long term goal. The progress could then be first communicated

to the employees through quantitative terms through use of internal media such as posters

or digital display (television) within the organization. The posters communicating the

progress should tell the amount left to be covered and must express the happiness over

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the progress made in the in the previous quarterly result. Thus the poster would then

claim We are only 30% away from our goal (long term goal)". The future changes and

strategies to achieve the remaining could again be communicated in a creative way. For

e.g. The company could have posters on the floor and a step wise strategy to achieve the

goals they want to achieve could be depicted on the floor from the main priority to the

least as the employee walks to his cabin for work. However care must be taken to

withdraw at the right time.

Another way to create an artificial moment could be by introducing an employee rewardsystem every once a year. In this employees who have made good progress and

conformed to the values of the company could be rewarded and their success could be

communicated to the other employees who in turn would try to emulate themselves to

such rewarded employees. In such times the company could also take the advantage to

sell its future goals and the ways to achieve them. Such a reward system may not warrant

a momentum for change on a major scale but could do so on a subliminal level with theemployees who would wish to emulate themselves, along with those who have been

awarded.

Principle 2: Linking internal and external marketing

As said before the company does not make use of advertisements in the internet or injournals where could target both the employees and the client i.e. follow a dual branding

strategy. This could especially be done through the internet where the websites couldportray the employees photos and a brief testimonial about the company. The company

could even go a step further and have a competition (like in photography) to get an image

for an ad in the print media which would be then be advertised to clients.

Along with the recommendation of using advertisement as an effective medium to linkthe internal and external advertisement, Vertex should also have a gap between the

expectation of the client and the delivery by the employees. This gap is so suggested so

as to make the employees strive more to achieve that level a higher performance of

delivery to clients.

To ensure that the same message can be heard by both the employees and the clients,Vertex could bring the employees who actually develop the software and the clients

under one roof and at that point of time communicate what is the proposal by the

company towards the clients and make sure that the expectation from the client point of

view is made clear to the employees and vice versa. Further along the ppts or handouts

prepared which will chart out the plans by the company to deliver to the client could be

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prepared (at least a major part of it) by the actual software developers themselves with

some assistance by the marketing heads. This would then be presented by the marketing

salesmen. This would also reduce the chance of false promises being exchanged.

Principle 3: Brining the brand Alive.

The vision and mission statement of Vertex as told to us is still a work-in-progress andcurrently they are following the vision and mission statement of NTT Data Corp.

However we are of the opinion that they should have their own visionary goal to look up

to. Also it should comprise of the three core values Openness, Trust and Transparency,

which is presently in practice at Vertex. As these values are already deep rooted in the

minds of their employees, framing the brand vision on these fronts would strengthen the

purpose. This can be a part of the internal campaign the company could launch and

communication of the material of the same like posters could be blazoned on the inner

walls of the company. As part of their surveys the company presently does not rate the employees on the

conformity to the values they hold. The three values practiced at Vertex, can be used as a

parameter to mark ones performance during an interval of about a month or the tenure of

a project. The individual or the team as a whole could be rated on these values and the

best performers could be rewarded. This would help to make the insights of the

employees and better execute the branding campaign

Micro blogging/ Networking Platformswould also enable people to interact and networkwith the other employees in the organization with whom they wouldnt otherwise get to

interact. This could serve the purpose of exchange of ideas and socializing. Thecontribution to blogging could be a medium to exhibit ones talent and also give a spur to

brainstorming sessions. Various issues or queries can be posted here. At the same time

appreciation and recognition to ones achievement can be put up. Thus this could in a

way act as the execution of the branding campaign.

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Additional inputs:

After analyzing the working within Vertex and how the company culture works we have

related the workers motivation with Maslows Need Hierarchy model. If we relate our findings

to the model we will notice that the first 3 needs of the employees of Vertex are satisfied. It is the

4th need which is not and suggestions for the same have been found out.

Basic need: this need is satisfied through the basic salary provided to employees

Security need: this need is also satisfied as there is no sense of job insecurity in their work

culture. In fact it was absent even during recession.

Social Need: this need too is satisfied and the same is manifested through the events such as

photography competition and also through the use of intranet as a tool for feedback.

Esteem needs: this is the area where Vertex is lacking. We were also notified during our visit

that Vertex is facing a problem creating different levels of performance where after one level theemployees can go on to the next. Further little evidence was known about the self esteem of the

individuals. The recommendation for the sameis that they could start making case studies of

their past successful projects and distribute it over the internet or even in B-schools. This will

boost the morale of the employees on whom the case study is made. Further employees could be

made to write for columns in newspapers magazines where they could explain their cause of

success.

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Part C

More involvement of the students:

To develop an emotional connection with the students the college could have more

involvement of students in their course. This does not mean only making rules and students

following the same. Involvement would mean a broader concept. For e.g. the top management

could tell the whole batch of MBA students to have a logo and tagline for themselves. They

could have students who will voluntarily prepare the same for a period of 7 days and the most

among them could be chosen. However in doing so the original logo of Indira College may not

change (considering the importance of brand recognition for the external world). The logo

selected could be then be used on their sweatshirts or other places. Such kind of personal

involvements will make students feel like being in a world they have created rather than imposed

on them

Participation by all levels of management in events.

While the above method may not guarantee participation by everyone another way to

build on an emotional connection with the college could be by having some events like a cricket

match or a photograph competition every month or so on weekends and where it would be

required by almost all to participate. It would also require the top, middle and lower level

management to participate in the same events. This will help to reduce communication barriers

by the students between the different levels and also help one to be more empathetic to the other

parties perception (e.g. Students being more empathetic to the top managements views) through

a greater flow of information through informal channel that will build up from such events.

Birthdays on Central Notice Board-

Birthday is very special day for everyone. Birthdays of students if any on the day can

also be displayed on central notice board, so as to make him or her feel special. This activity can

seek students attention. This will make a personal impact on students. It will certainly help

students to get emotionally attached to the college.

Alumni Interaction

Interaction with Alumni at Classroom level, for at least once in 4 months. Alumni shouldbe from several sectors so that it helps student to know growth in various sector, by sharing their

experiences, current situation, and future scope of that sector in corporate world. This will also

help in reducing the yawning gap in what knowledge we get from class and what the modern day

industry requirements.

Alumni interaction will also help in promoting the brand of college; as well bring those

companies to our campus for placements in which the alumni are working. Alumni interaction

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provides a basic platform to meet with their batch mates and thus helps in strengthening their lost

contacts. Alumni will also be enthusiastic to meet their teachers, how have in past bestowed

knowledge and wisdom upon them.

Use of articles

College should provide articles of alumni who performed in the college really well and

have added some values during their MBA program and also who are performing good in their

respective organization. The articles should be on what these people have done in their

curriculum as well as what they are doing in their respective organization.

Student Magazine (e-book or print)

Student Magazine is one of the best ways of blossoming talented writers, poets, creative

photographers, artists to portray their talents. Student magazine can also give a preview of events

taking place in our college along with its schedule.

Students magazine is best way of knowing students of other colleges of Indira as it may

not be possible to get along personally. Its a magazine where lifes and achievement stories of

leading entrepreneurs, strategist, CEO, etc. can be portrayed which will certainly help students to

think in broader terms and apply values and thoughts of famous personalities in their own life.

Student magazine should at least be published once every month or in each semester. The cost

for it can be earned through advertisement of fast food chain near the surroundings of college in

the magazine.

Provide News of Companies visiting to Campus with their required criteria and profile

offered to students by using Bulletin Board, SMS, and E-mail etc. So that it gives base to studentfor seeking the knowledge of that company and profile, it helps them to plan their Career Path.

Create profile of each student on college Website. Update this profile every year by

providing the info about student occupation, profile, salary etc. Thus it helps to maintain the

alumni records easily.

Reception

At the entrance of the building we can have a big LCD screen. On that screen we can

display the various AVs, Advertisements, pictures created by the students. The students willasked to make advertisement on any topic or product, and the advertisement will be displayed

there on screen for whole day. Along with that the Indira AV can also be displayed there. As the

student advertisement will be displayed, it will help to create emotional relationship with college.

That screen can also be used to display the business news, notices in the form of the flash news

etc. Motivational videos can also be displayed. The problem faced by management in

implementing any process or setting up new rules and regulation can be displayed over the

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digital screen and can ask students to come up with the solution for that problem. The best

possible and feasible solution can be implemented by the management. After that the

responsibility of implementing that idea will be given to that student. It not only will solve the

problem of management but also give the feel of involvement to students.

Amphitheater

The open spaces in Amphi Theater can b use to build a room called Sadhna where the

students can meditate, relax themselves. We can play the soft music there in the room and

sometime we can use the other techniques of stress release like Power dance, Yoga etc. So that

student will get relax from the daily hectic schedule. This will help to students deal with stress

related problems. This will not only help to make student the good human being but also will

help to emotionally attach them to Institute.