Letter of Transmittal

August 17, 2019

Subject: Submission of Case Analysis Report

Respected Ma’am

As per the guidelines provided by you during the classroom discussion, I hereby submit a report
on the case titled Can a strong culture be too strong. This report has been prepared after the
deductive learning from the teaching of 6-step problem solving method of Penrose, Rasberry,
and Myres in the class and also an exhaustive study of the entire case, carefully scrutinizing the
facts and assumptions. The report contains the relevant facts in the introduction, problem
statement and list of possible alternatives, and a contingency plan.

I humbly request you to evaluate the same and provide us with your valuable inputs and
suggestions.

Regards
S

Executive summary
Parivar is a mid-size IT company and they are rising above the mark of a second-increase the
retention of employees and also it will strengthen its employee caring culture. They are planning
to endorse People Support function in order to inculcate work inclusive culture. They feel this
step will help in reducing the exponential attrition rate which the company is facing right now.
But the Operation Head Kumar has some doubts regarding costs, scalability, and management of
the new function. Due to which Indira the Vice President of HR is in a dilemma whether to
endorse the People Support function or not. After proper analysis of the situation and evaluation
of alternatives we have come to the conclusion of endorsing People Support function.

Table of Content

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S. No. Contents Page No.

1 Executive Summary 1

2 Table of Content 2

3 Situation Analysis 3

4 Problem Statement 4

5 Alternate Options 4

6 Evaluation Criteria 5

7 Evaluation of Options 6

7 Recommendation 6

8 Contingency Plan 7

Situation Analysis

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Parivar is a mid-sized Chennai-based IT company that is growing in its profitability, revenue and
also it is rising above the second-tier IT service companies. But the company is facing a major
issue in the retention of its employees which are leaving at a faster rate than its hiring rate. This
was a major hindrance for the company to grow. Parivar’s CEO Sudhir Gupta believes in
inclusive work culture and fostering the philosophy of genuine caring for its employees. Nisha
who is a fresher comes up with an idea of People support function. In this function designated
listeners will be appointed who will listen to the employee’s personal problem and try to find a
solution for it. But Indira, Vikram, and Kumar were debating that the family-like work
environment had no longer been able to retain the employees and it was extrinsic motivation like
pay hike which can motivate an employee
Amal in the exit interview to Indira pointed out that he was not able to interact with the senior
executives and also he had a difference with his manager which was a reason for his leaving the
company. All this makes Indira wondering what was true. Also, the feasibility of the People
Support function as Sudhir and the management staff discussed its scalability, the cost of the
function, evaluation of the assigned listeners and so on.

Sudhir was of the view that a family-like culture is a necessity for a company and everywhere
the people want their company to take care of them. Indira on the other side was in a doubt that
how a family-like culture what Sudhir wants can be implemented and how feasible it would be.

Problem Statement

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Due to the cut-throat competition, businesses need to be more efficient in order to survive and grow.
Efforts are put to ensure optimum utilization of resources. In this quest, there are considerable
expectations from employees which results in pressure. On the other hand, employees have their personal
problems too. They want to develop at an individual level. The hectic schedule takes a toll on their
personal lives too. People support function seems to be a good option for helping employees. However
important questions of scalability feasibility arise with its implementation. Indira the Vice President of
HR is in a confusion that whether she should endorse People Support function, which might help the
company to retain its employee or not?

Alternate Options

Indira should endorse People Support function.

Employees generally are not very comfortable discussing their professional and personal
problems with the managers who are at a higher level. There is a risk of depletion of reputation
in front of them, which might impact their job. By having a designated person (listener) whose
job would be to act as a bridge between the manager and the employee will solve the problem to
great extent as the employee can talk with him without being judged.

Indira should not endorse People Support function.

The cost associated with the People Support function is very high as new recruitments have to be
made for the listeners and also they need to be trained according to the company. Moreover on
what basis the listeners would be judged is also an issue for the company.

Evaluation Criteria

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To select the better of the two solutions for the case, the proper Evaluation criteria are to be chosen.
They are as following

Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction is how satisfied the employee is with the company. It is considered to be
the main reason behind the employees leaving the company.

Cost of Function

The cost of the function is also to be considered while choosing one of the two as if the option is
too expensive the option can become infeasible to be implemented by the organization.

Talent Attraction

This refers to how the option selected will attract talented employees in the future.

Competitive Edge

The competitive advantage is an important factor to be considered whenever a new plan is

implemented in any organization.

Alignment with Company culture

Alignment with the company’s current culture is required for a plan as if the plan is not related to
the company’s culture than the plan can face resistance from its employees.

Employee Retention

Parivar’s main problem is retaining employees. The options are needed to be evaluated on whether
the option will help the employee to retain its employee or not.

Evaluation of Options

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 Option 1 Option 2

Employee Satisfaction May be No

Cost of Function High Nil

Talent Attraction May be No

Competitive Edge May be No

Alignment with Company Culture May be No

Employee retention May be No

Recommendation

We would suggest option 1 as a solution for this case analysis, which is implementing the People
Support Function. Because this option seems to be better for the future growth of the
organization and also reduce the employee turnover which is a major concern the company is
facing. Also, the organization is a mid-size firm so the scalability would not be a major issue in
the current scenario but as the organization transits towards becoming a large-sized organization
it would be an issue. The major issue in hand is the rate of attrition. Being a service-based
company, the core strength of the company lies in its people. With the present rate of attrition
doubt arises about the survival of the company so as an immediate measure, People Support
Function becomes indispensable.

Contingency Plan

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If the People Support Function failed we can implement the function partially and informally. In
the contingency plan, we would instead of institutionalizing the idea in a formal way that will
include officially trained listeners we can rather train the managers to be listeners and also
develop an informal culture in the company. The informal culture will help the employees to
directly reach out to the managers with the problems and get it solved.