an Ramadorai Final

8/3/2019 an Ramadorai Final

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SUBRAMANIAN RAMADORAI

A Study On Level 5 Leadership

Submitted by

Manulal K

Roll. No. 191032

FMG 19 A

FORE School of Management

Submitted to

Dr. Anita T Lal

On

06/02/2012


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Introduction

Subramaniam Ramadorai heads Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the company that built the

Indian IT industry. And Ram's been there through the three decade journey as the pilot who

navigated the most crucial turns mid-air, as the steward who took care of all on board the TCS

ship, as the explorer who set up beachheads for TCS round the globe, as a travelling salesman

who brought back clients who paid in precious dollars. For the Tatas, Ram is the "master of the

ship" and "captain of its soul".

And yet, Ram has been on the sidelines, away from the arc lights for most part of his over-three-

decade career at TCS. Through these years, he was instrumental in every aspect of TCS' growth-

be it the numerous quality initiatives, be it the offshoring model, be it the measurement models

for people and processes, be it the signing up of big ticket clients, or then forging alliances with

global technology majors and institutions. Therefore, when he was given charge of running the

company in 1996, there was little doubt within TCS and the board of Tata Sons that Ram was the

appropriate choice. He had seen and done it all.

Ram took the reins over from the legendary and formidable Dr Fakir Chand Kohli, the grandsire

of the Indian technology industry. When Ram was under Dr Kohli's tutelage, till such time that

Ram actually took over as the CEO, he was overshadowed by the latter. Vastly different from DrKohli in his management style and personality, Ram has been an "in the trenches" kind of a man,

sporting a mild demeanor and a self-effacing attitude. Ram makes up for this with an elephantine

determination and sense of purpose, a rigid discipline, a demonstrated ability to manage personal

and professional relationships, and a healthy appetite for risks. He is, besides, gifted with a sharp

intellect, insatiable curiosity, and wide-ranging interests.

In the eight years that Ram has been leading TCS, he has grown the organization multi-fold to its

current size of nearly a billion and half dollars. Equally Ram invested in managing the internal

organization. Apart from some PSUs, the railways, and the defence, how many CEOs have to

manage nearly 40,000 people spread across the globe? And still keep growing against global

benchmarks? This clearly called for new measures to culturally integrate people, to measure their

performance and productivity levels, design reward and appraisal processes. Further, business


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processes needed to be fine-tuned to extract maximum productivity and efficiency. Through the

use of technology and process measures, Ram and his team have been able to manage the

organization scale-up in terms of people and revenues and profitability. In FY 2003-04, TCS

delivered gross margins of 48%, one of the highest in the industry, despite sales and marketing

expenses accounting for 20% of the revenues.

Early Life and Education

Born in Nagpur, Ram grew up in Delhi where his father worked in the Indian audits and accounts

service department. In this characteristic middle class environment, Ram imbibed certain values

early on-respect for the individual, the need to share with and care for fellow beings,

conservation of resources, the importance of education, and the belief that the family should

anchor one in whatever one sets out to do in life. From his mother and sisters, he gathered

appreciation for music and art. He was encouraged to read widely and his voracious reading

habits were formed early.

At sixteen, Ram was told that the earlier he was able to take care of his destiny, the better. He

chose to study physics at the University of Delhi, from where he headed south to Bangalore to

study communication technology at the Indian Institute of Science. After his graduation in 1968,

Ram briefly joined the Physical Research Lab at Ahmedabad but soon left to pursue higherstudies at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he got his masters in

computer science.

Ram then joined NCR, a notable and large computer company at that time. The US was in

recession in the early seventies though for Indians who were educated there, remaining there was

still an attractive option. Ram, though, was toying with the thought giving up his cushy job and

coming back to India. Things materialized when his father told him that the Tata group was

looking for people who could work on computers, and that he should try it out because the Tatas

were a much-respected name in Indian business and getting in could prove to be the opportunity

of a lifetime.


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Tryst with TCS

The Tata group had bought a mainframe for doing the data processing work for its group

companies and had also started seeking external customers for time-sharing. The set-up required

people who were trained in programming these machines as well as in keeping them running.

The division, called Tata Consultancy Services, was headed by a reputed engineer of the time,

PM Agarwala. But upon his death, a young power engineer by name Fakir Chand Kohli was

made the general manager and he was given the mandate to expand the business operations. TCS

at that time had nearly 40 people.

In Nov 1971, Ram met AH Tobaccowala, president, Tata Inc., who was based in New York, and

interviewed with him. One more meeting and Ram had made up his mind to go home to India.

And on February 23, 1972, Ram joined TCS, and ascended up the Air India Building at Nariman

Point, Bombay, for the first time.

Work was pretty routine, writing code, compiling it, punching the cards and the like. Each one

was allowed only three compilations; if in three trials one's code wasn't working, it meant that

the programmer had to get back to the desk and rewrite large parts of the code. This was a way

of measuring programmer productivity and efficiency then. And also a way of conserving

precious computing resources.

Two of Ram's colleagues at that time are still with him at TCS: S Mahalingam who is now

executive vice president and CFO, and Jayant Pendharkar, vice president and head, global

marketing. Little did this group of 40 people, captained by the astute FC Kohli, know that they

were on the brink of carving out an entirely new industry.

In 1974, things started really moving at TCS-Ram was asked to shift to the hardware side and

sent to Montreal for getting trained on Burroughs, a noted hardware platform at that time. After

coming back, Ram's job changed from being a programmer to a hardware maintenance engineer.

He took up the change without qualms. He was then encouraged to sell some of the machines.

He did that too, some of his earliest customers being State Bank of India, Jadavpur University,

and Institute of Agricultural Research Statistics. And, of course, the service contracts also came


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to TCS. And Ram thus acquired the skills of handling client relationships, managing service

contracts, writing client proposals, handling business operations and the like.

In 1978, the Tatas formed a joint venture with Burroughs to form Tata Burroughs Ltd (TBL),

which was to later become Tata Unisys, currently Tata Infotech. Ram with his training and

experience in Burroughs was naturally expected to join the team that left TCS to form TBL.

This was the turning point in Ram's career and destiny. If he had taken the TBL route, he would

not have got the chance to head TCS. But the trajectory of the computer industry was not then

clear either: there was no software industry to speak of, and software was tied down to the

hardware platform and the hardware vendor. Around that time, IBM was also sent away from

India and the industry was heavily regulated. Machines had to be imported against duties of the

order of 300%, and against each import there was an export obligation for which clients had to

be sought. The machines that were imported reached a year or two later, by which time the

model numbers invariably changed, and liaising with the customs officials took up the lion's

share of the importer's time.

Ram's intuition told him to stay on at TCS though TCS, for one, still had to shape its own destiny

whereas the work was almost laid out ready at TBL. He chose the unpredictable over the

predictable and elected to remain with TCS. Kohli then chose him to be sent to the US to handlethe tough job of selling in the US, once an office was opened in New York. Persuading banking

and finance companies there was a tall order for India was considered to be out in the boondocks,

in those days, and many thought it a joke when an Indian called to say that he could handle

computer-related jobs for them.

Awards and Recognitions

Ramadorai is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Institute of

Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member of the National Council of the

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), President of the Indo-American Society, Member of the

Corporate Advisory Board, Marshall School ofBusiness (USC), and is also on the Advisory and

Governing Boards of a number of reputed Indian academic institutions.


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Ramadorai continues to maintain strong links with the world of academia. He is a member of the

Corporate Advisory Board, Marshall School of Business (USC) as well as other Boards of

reputed Indian academic institutions. Among his other distinctions, Ramadorai is a Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of the Indian National Academy of

Engineering.

In 2006, on India's Republic Day, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest

civilian honour. In 2004, he won Business India's "Business Man of the Year" award. During

2003, Ramadorai received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indore Management

Association, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Indian Institute of Science,

Bangalore, and a Fellowship of the Institute of Management Consultants of India. He has also

been honoured with CNB

C Asia Pacific's prestigious 'AsiaB

usiness Leader of the Year' Awardin 2002, as well as the 'Management Man of the Year' award by the Bombay Management

Association. He was named in June 2002, by Consulting Magazine (USA) as being among the

Top 25 Most Influential Consultants in the world, the only Indian CEO on the list. He has been

honoured with the position of 'IT Advisor to Qingdao City, People's Republic of China.

Silicon.com has named him as an agenda setter (position 22) in 2006.

On 28 April 2009, Ramadorai was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire

(CBE).

On 31 January 2011, TCS Vice-Chairman, S. Ramadorai was appointed by the Indian

Government as the advisor to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for the National Skill

Development Council. In this role, Ramadorai will hold the rank of a Cabinet minister, the Prime

Minister's Office (PMO) said in a release. The Council, which is headed by the Prime Minister,

seeks to develop a strategy for skill development at the national level along with variations at the

state level and formulate strategies to address the skill deficit.


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Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai Analysis of Leadership

1. Level 1 - Highly Capable IndividualA capable individual is the one who makes productive contributions through talent,

knowledge, skills and good work habits.

Analysis

These are some of the characteristics that shows that Ramadorai is a highly capable

individual.

Elephantine Determination and Sense of Purpose Rigid Discipline

Level 5 : Level

5 Executive

Level 4 : Effective

Leader

Level 3 : Competent

Manager

Level 2 : Contributing Team Member

Level 1 : Highly Capable Individual


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Demonstrated Ability to Manage Personal and Professional Relationships Healthy Appetite for Risks Sharp Intellect Insatiable Curiosity Wide Range of Interests

2. Level 2 - Contributing TeamMemberAlso a team member, he contributes his individual capabilities to the achievement of the

group objectives and works effectively with others in group settings.

Analysis

The instances given below shows that Ramadorai was a contributing team member.

a) Flexibility to Work in Various Departments

Mr. Ramadorai, who learnt mathematics at his fathers knee and earned degrees in

physics, electronics and computer science, was not above picking up a screwdriver or

pliers. At TCS, a colleague recalls, You had to work with your own hands. You had

to bash metal before you could crunch code

b) High Initiatives in Solving Problems

One of Mr. Ramadorais colleagues, Jayant Pendharkar, now TCSs chief marketing

officer, remembers the computer arriving in three truckloads, under government seal

awaiting a customs inspection. The next morning, he was horrified to discover that an

overenthusiastic employee had broken the seal and unpacked the computer before the

inspectors arrived. Showing an admirable talent for improvisation, Mr Ramadorai

salvaged the sealing wires from the bin, threaded them back into place and refastened

them with a twist. The customs officials were none the wiser.


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3. Level 3 - Competent ManagerA competent manager knows how to organize people and resources towards the effective

and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

Analysis

These given instance shows that Ramadorai was a competent manager.

a) Explored the Potential of the Young TalentsHe always recruited the best people and explored their potential very well. These

people played a key role in taking TCS from a good to great company

b) Transformation through innovationTransformation through Innovation and Growth through innovation, are constant

themes in the IT industry. Since the computers could not come to India due to

unfavorable economic conditions, he took his people and their skills to where

computers were to the U.S. Thus began TCSs tryst with overseas markets.

4. Level 4 - Effective LeaderGoes one step further and becomes an effective leader, he catalyses commitment to and a

vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance

standards.

Analysis

The below instance shows that Ramadorai has the qualities of an effective leader.

a) Clear and Compelling Vision

Ram has been able to spot new opportunities that drive TCS' growth.


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For example, its "e-business practice" which started with a 10-man team in 1999,

now generates over a third of the company's annual revenues and is clearly the

growth driver for the company.

During the Y2K days, TCS pioneered the concept of the "software factory, wherein

third party software developers could make use of automated software tools

developed by TCS for Y2K conversion.

Ram was also the force behind the CMCacquisition and its integration into the TCS

fold. While employee numbers swelled, the number of "points of presence" with

offshore development centers, not only in India but also in various other geographies,

grew to enhance the company's global footprint.

The company pioneered in crossing every new quality frontier, be it CMM Level 5

or PCMM or its own Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM).

The vision that Ram set for TCS is simple and unambiguous: "To be amongst the

global Top 10 consulting organizations by 2010". Says Ram, "There are no two ways

in which you can interpret this vision statement. It tells our people what is expected

out of them. Drawing TCS out of the closet and confines of a privately-held company,

Ram, with the help and consent of the Tata Sons, led TCS into being a publicly listed

company. The listing in itself was a much-awaited landmark event, and it catapulted

Ram to the full glare of the media and the investor community.

b) Relentless pursuit of excellence in quality

Under his leadership TCS was awarded the CII-Exim Bank Quality Award for 2006.

In August 2004, TCS became the worlds first organization to achieve an Integrated

Enterprise- wide Maturity Level 5 on both Capability Maturity model and People

Capability Maturity model; these are frameworks conceptualized by the Software

Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, to benchmark and appraise the

software process and people management process of an organization.


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Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiringcharisma to motivate

Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets up successors for even greatersuccess in the next generation

Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of thecompanyto other people, external factors, and good luck

Analysis

Subramanian Ramadorai was a very down to earth person and talks very less. He always

respected the people down the line and was willing to share his ideas to bis co-workers.

He always gave the credit of achievements to his predecessors and the employees. He

never boasts of his achievements. Some of the examples are given below. When TCS

made huge revenues during 2003, a news reporter asked about the secret. Ramadorai

replied like this, "I consider myself fortunate that I had people like JRD, Nani Palkhivala,

and Kohli who taught me to look far beyond the immediately visible

3. First Who Concept

In explaining the First Who Then What concept, Collins stresses the importance of

having the right people in the right place. In developing the First Who concept, Collins

details that some firms recruited the right individual before having a job description in

place for their position. In many cases the job description was developed around the

highly competent individual after hiring. Collins comments in this chapter that, Great

vision without great people is irrelevant.

Analysis

Subramanian Ramadorai always kept the right people in the company because he

believed that human resourses can make great transformation to the company.TCS is a

highly competitive organization. Those who cannot perform or meet upto expectations


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have to find alternate ways and means. The quality of the people they retain is easily

ascertainable form the facts that:

-TCS has the largest number of professional members to IEEE from this region.

-Over 300 Certified Quality Analysts.

-Three of TCSs development centers have SEI CMM Level 5 certification and more

that 4000 professionals are part of this.

Subramanian Ramadorai was interested in the growth of the company rather than himself.

He was willing to work in different departments during the initial period of his career.

Even though he was a software professional, he was put into hardware department during

some period . But he contributed well as a team member without any hesitation.

4. Stockdale ParadoxThe Stockdale Paradox is named after admiral Jim Stockdale, who was a United States

military officer held captive for eight years during the Vietnam War. Stockdale was

tortured more than twenty times by his captors, and never had much reason to believe he

would survive the prison camp and someday get to see his wife again. And yet, as

Stockdale told Collins, he never lost faith during his ordeal:

I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and

turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not

trade.Stockdale approached adversity with a very different mindset. He accepted the

reality of his situation. He knew he was in hell, but, rather than bury his head in the sand,

he stepped up and did everything he could to lift the morale and prolong the lives of his

fellow prisoners. He created a tapping code so they could communicate with each other.

He developed a milestone system that helped them deal with torture. And he sent

intelligence information to his wife, hidden in the seemingly innocent letters he wrote.


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Collins and his team observed a similar mindset in the good-to-great companies. They

labeled it the Stockdale Paradox and described it like so: You must retain faith that you

will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. Also, you must confront the most

brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

Analysis

Mr. Ramadorai believes dealing with adversity only makes companies stronger. If

everything is peaceful, you dont push yourself, he says. He never lost his faith in his

vision. One of the examples for this is TCSs domestic market concentration.

TCS Domestic Market Concentration

When its competitors were looking for huge revenues by looking for operations abroad,

TCSs concentrated in domestic markets. Initially, it couldnt bring so much revenue

generation. But Ramadorai knew that there is light at the end of the tunnel. His vision

was true. During recession, when other companies failed TCS earned a huge profit. It

also enables TCS to become the no.1 IT company in India.

5. The Hedgehog ConceptThe hedgehog concept states that there are two ways that a top-level leader can direct the

company: as a hedgehog or as a fox. In this version, it is the fox that is in a hurry to get

ahead. He rushes around, from one great idea to the next. He is always interested in the

next big thing, something that might make his company a lot of money. The fox has

something to prove, and he easily disregards the consequences; he is easily distracted and

is constantly working out new schemes.

Analysis


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Subramanian Ramadorai always had a clear vision. He always concentrated on long term

goals rather than short term gains. He was never worried of what the competitors were

doing. Some of the examples are

E-Business Practice - " which started with a 10-man team in 1999, now generates over a

third of the company's annual revenues and is clearly the growth driver for the company.

Software Factory - wherein third party software developers could make use of

automated software tools developed by TCS for Y2K conversion. This enabled them to

generate huge revenue during Y2K time.

TCSs Domestic Market Strategy- Explained in the previous example (Stockdale

paradox)

6. ACulture of DisciplineAnalysis

Ramadorai firmly believes that learning is a continual process, which does not end with

formal education. With this in mind, he continuously strives to make TCS a learning

organisation, conducive to developing ones full potential. In fact, TCS spends 6 % of its

annual turnover on training and development and has also invested in a worldclass

training centre in Thiruvananthapuram. Additionally, every TCSer has the opportunity to

undergo 20 days of training in a year to enhance their knowledge and upgrade their

technical skills.

7. Technology AcceleratorsAnalysis


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Ramadorais vision is evident through the active role he played in establishing Offshore

Development Centers (ODCs) in India to provide high-end quality solutions to major

corporations.

With a view to remain abreast with changing technologies at all times, Ramadorai set up

Technology Excellence Centers in India that have acquired knowledge, expertise and

equipment in specialized technology areas.

Ramadorai spearheaded TCS' quality initiatives, taking sixteen of its Development

Centers to SEI's CMM Level 5, the highest and most prestigious performance assessment

issued by the Software Engineering Institute.

8. TCS - Transformation from Good to GreatAnalysis

Ramadorai played an integral role in the international development of Tata Consultancy

Services (TCS) -- he took over when TCS earned a mere $400 million and had 6000

employees. His efforts have helped make TCS one of the world's largest global software

and services companies with more than 143,000 consultants working in 42 countries,

operating out of over 151 offices worldwide, and with revenues over US$ 6.0 billion (FY

2008-09).

9. SettingUp Successors for Success- Natarajan ChandrasekharanAnalysis

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and

Managing Director of the company.

Responsible for formulating and executing the companys global strategy, Chandra has

been at helm of several key strategic transitions at TCS since 2002 when he took over the

role as head of global sales. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer, he was the


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architect of the new organization structure unveiled in 2008, which created multiple agile

business units focusing on domains and markets as well as built strategic business units in

order to pursue new initiatives with the ability to invest, develop and mature new ideas.

Under his leadership, TCS pioneered the creation of its unique Global Network Delivery

Model (GNDM) across five continents and ventured into new markets including

Europe, China and Latin America. It added new business lines like BPO and

infrastructure and assurance services. Chandra has also driven the domain diversification

drive that has seen the company enter new verticals like media and information services

as well as high-tech. All of these have matured into sizeable businesses under his

mentorship and guidance.

Chandra personifies TCS commitment to customer satisfaction and high quality of

deliverables. Through his experience in a variety of operating roles across TCS, he has

built a reputation in the IT services industry for his exceptional ability to build and grow

new businesses and nurture long-term relationships. He has also been a champion of

software and business quality for the industry.

Its clear that Ramadorai has a very good successor who is able to lead TCS even in his

absence.

Conclusion

Its seen from all these examples that Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai has level 5 leadership

traits. So, we can consider Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai as a level 5 leader.

an Ramadorai Final

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