Group 4 apigee case analysis

Group 4 apigee case analysis

• 1.
  Apigee : PeopleManagement practices and the challenge of Growth 1. Amit Prakash Singh (CGT21002) 2. Dipanjan Sengupta (CGT21005) 3. Indranil Ghosh (CGT21006) 4. Mohd Zinhar Uddin (CGT21010) 5. Bhargav Sri Dhavala (CGT21027)
• 2.
  Situation Analysis • Apigeeis a tech company that delivers API services to companies that provide connected digital experiences. The company is run on the idea of ‘empowered employees’ and the values and its culture were designed accordingly. The values of passion, bias for action and respect were internalized and exhibited in their behaviour. The prevailing culture of Apigee was focused on freedom and autonomy to its employees, fostered innovation, and to engage employees through an empowering and fearless communication with no hierarchy. The employees enjoyed a liberal work-life balance, a self-review-based performance evaluation, an impact-based compensation plan with rewards based on experiential events like paid vacations, and freedom provided through self-managed teams. There were also several unique practices like open layout floor plans and no formal leave policies. This autonomous culture has begged the question of sustainability over the growth of the organization.
• 3.
  Problem Statement: Isthe current organization structure sustainable with the increase in the size of the organization?
• 4.
  Evaluation • Employee Leaves:Introduce a more formalized leave application process for employees. The existing process is not standardized and gives the organization no capabilities to plan. With increasing employee numbers, prior information about employees and a count of leaves makes the organization more room to make necessary plans. • Organizational Structure: Apigee has a flat organizational structure. With increasing size and a need to sustain their competitive advantage and Innovation, they should come up with a matrix-like organizational structure. This provides room for both functions as well as the division/product aspects. It is important that the organization introduces hierarchy. It serves both the aspiration and a control measure. • Communication: The current office plan allows people to interact with everyone, and the teams have no formal meetings as such. This would be very difficult to track with growing complexity, both in terms of the number of teams as well as difficulty in tasks for these better communication channels such as EIT and the minimum number of formal meetings.
• 5.
  • Performance EvaluationMeasures: The current system spends a full day, and employees, regardless of experience, are put in the same pools. This might be hard on certain employees and the size ability to address concerns might go down. So, the system suggested in classroom discussion, BARS, etc. a more comprehensive, and pools based on cadre is necessary. This can be based on JD & JS. • Hiring policy: A new hiring policy, which includes freshers, can be undertaken. Given the original scale, they can train the employees for skills and attitudes, etc. while the culture fit can be a dimension for hiring.
• 6.
  Criteria for Evaluation •Sustainability: In the highly dynamic and rapidly growing industry, it’s crucial for the proposed solution to be sustainable in nature. The company’s growth will bring in more revenue and thereby would require more employees. Any change in the organizational structure or culture so proposed should be well-aligned with the growth strategies of the company, and also account for changes in the environment • Budget: In the financial year 2014, Apigee recorded a loss of $60.8 million. With the plans for expansion in place, the proposed changes should be well within the budgetary limits so that Apigee has enough money to reinvest in profitable areas in the future
• 7.
  • Core Values:The different alternatives so proposed should reinforce the values stated below: 1) Passion: Employees at Apigee had always exhibited a passion for their work and were supportive of their peers around, giving the company a light hearted and friendly surrounding • Bias for Action: Apigee is known for responding promptly to clients. They believe in the concept of “customer centricity” where the employees give utmost priority in delivering value and best practises to the clients • Respect: Employees are given considerate autonomy and are empowered to be a part of the decision-making process.
• 8.
  Evaluation of Alternatives: •Formal leave policy: The leave days taken per employee are well below 30 per year. With the rapid growth of the company number of new hires in the organisation will increase and this might result in a significant increase in the number of people misusing the current policy of the unlimited number of leaves. This will also ensure better planning at the organisational level. The number of leaves per employee is also a cost to the company and formalised leave policy will establish a control on the same Formal leave policy might have an adverse effect on the autonomy of the employees and might send a message that the organisation has lost trust in its employees. • Changing the organisational structure: A flat organisational structure is a good alternative when the number of employees is less, but with an increase in employee strength, flat organisational structure will be difficult to sustain. Hence there is a need to introduce some hierarchy in the organisation. The autonomy of employees will remain unchanged and the compensation plan will also be kept the same. Hence this alternative should not have implications on the budget of the organisation. Introduction of the hierarchy can result in introduction of bureaucracy in the organisation and might send a message that the organisation has lost trust in its employees.
• 9.
  • Introduction offormal meeting culture and limit on work from home: Currently, employees have the liberty to plan their workday. They can allocate resources and find ways to coordinate with each other. This freedom is currently misused by some employees. With an increase in employee strength, preventing this misuse can be a difficult task. Hence, the introduction of formal meeting structure can help prevent this misuse. Also, this will also ensure proper utilisation of resources. Imposing a limit on the work from home days will prevent misuse and will ensure that all employees can avail the work from the facility. Imposing this limit might adversely affect the feeling of trust and freedom in Apigee employees. • Changing the performance evaluation measures: Current performance measurement system requires the employee and coach to evaluate performance every month. As the size of the organisation is increasing, it might be very difficult for the coaches to evaluate all the employees every month. Monthly goals can also create unnecessary pressure on new joiners who are trying to mould themselves in Apigee culture. Time spent by employees and coaches every month also has an opportunity cost associated with it which the company is incurring. Considering the losses in recent years, Apigee also needs to focus on measures to reduce costs. Reduction in frequency will not have a significant impact on the culture of Apigee.
• 10.
  • Changing thehiring policy: Apigee currently has a rigorous selection process and considers only experienced candidates for employment. Apigee looks for candidates who can handle freedom and responsibility in the most productive manner. Integrity, sense of responsibility and commitment is also tested. Considering the growth of Apigee, hiring experienced professionals with the aforementioned qualities can be tedious job and a bad hire could render Apigee’s culture vulnerable. Hence, Apigee can go for hiring freshers from engineering colleges. They can look for culture fit and the technical skills can be imparted through training programmes. For better evaluation of candidates, Apigee can introduce internship programme and hire candidates that comply with the requirements. Hiring freshers can also result in significant cost saving. Experienced candidates might take more time to adjust to Apigee culture, but in the case of freshers, this time can be reduced and they can be moulded to work in “The Apigee Way” easily.
• 11.
  • Final recommendationplan: Based on the evaluation of our criteria we would recommend changing the organisational structure and formalising activities like leave policy, meetings, working conditions. As with the increase in the number of employees, control and coordination among employees are at stake. In order to avoid unwanted problems, it is better to start with changing structure of organisation. And as apogee focus is on being sustainable, as well as preserving its core values, the above recommendations should be taken based on these criteria. • Implementation plan: Choose a structure which is close to flat structure as if changed abruptly to a structure which is poles apart employees might face problems while adjusting to new structure. Along with the changes in structure, formalising the other activities is to take place. And as the budget is to be considered, we have to take steps keeping in mind that the recommendations should not show a negative effect on the budget of the company. • Contingency plan: If the selected structure doesn’t go with the company's values or reduces employee’s focus, should go with gradual experimentation of any other structure form. If the very motive of the company is at stake then the company should opt for the original practices.
• 12.
  • Rigorous selection process • Motivatedto work • Integrity, responsibility, and commitment • Bi-annual appraisal • Bonus by self rating, coach ratings and reviews. • Mobile application for PMS. • Real-time feedback • Stock options and competitive salary • Annual incentives depending upon individual’s impact • Impact bucket and self rating • Challenging assignments and supportive work environment • Flexible working hours • Vacations with family. • Free flow of information • No formal meeting culture. WORK LIFE BALANCE COMPENSATION and BENEFITS HIRING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMNT Collaboration, openness to experimentation, and an emphasis on innovation and Learning and business leader. Apigee: Vertical and Horizontal alignment
• 13.
  13 Recruitment and Selection Performance management system Compensation and Reward system Trainingand Development Career Management Placement from B and T schools Internship – PPI and PPO Lateral Hiring – More than 3 year of experience in other organization Third Party Recruiter – For Diplomas and IL6 Contract Promotion based on Ratings and Performance Compulsory Job Rotation StepUp- A program for cross learnings from departments of Tata steel Internal Talent Bank- Easy way to change the department( Many options in one Flatform) Annual Increment Bonuses Steel Icons International Business Trips and Capability Development(SNTI)- For Imparting special Training) MoU with IITs and XLRI Special task need and alignment in performance and Training Standard Bell Curve Feedback Intra and Inter Department( Part of Bonus will decide from here) Performance management System for Continuous Monitoring( Tow review in year and Continuous Review) Tata Steel Business Strategy
• 14.
  Thank You!!