Why Good Employees Leave

Strategic HRM

Why Good Employees Leave

Bharat Trivedi was an Engineer from IIT Kanpur and an MBA from IIM Kolkata. Unlike other MBAs of his time, Bharat did not opt for job changes when faced with hurdles in his career; he had continued to work for the same multinational company for fifteen years or so. When his boss, the Procurement Head retired, Bharat was a natural choice to replace him. Bharat’s strength lay in his ability to work untiringly and his ability to take balanced decisions. The procurement function’s staff strength was twenty five people – more than 50% were engineers & MBAs – qualified professionals with whom Bharat had no difficulties. He could speak their language well.

Raw material comprised 70% of costs for the Indian subsidiary. The cost of yearly procurement exceeded Rs. 2000 crores - of this a huge portion was imported. Most material had specific “shelf lives”. It was very important for raw material flow to be well coordinated with production schedules.

On broad organizational issues, Bharat’s credibility was high. This enabled him to influence his peers and superiors with ease – if a formal suggestion came from Bharat; it was most often, the way to go. Some felt that it was only a matter of time before Bharat became a country CEO. Not surprisingly, Procurement functionaries received the highest increments each year!

1

Strategic HRM

Bharat was around 45 years of age and at the peak of his capabilities. He was highly respected in his function - Professional Associations often invited him for lectures and he freely shared his views. His staff admired him - he delegated without fear. Many subordinates had developed beyond their jobs; but they did not look for greener pastures – Bharat was such a good boss. His most famous words were “If you succeed take the credit. If you do not, I will take the blame.” Progressively, he introduced technology into his function and e-procurement became a normal process with his team.

Bharat’s relationship with other functions – his internal clients as well as his service providers – was enviable. Though Bharat was not yet a Vice President in the company, the Country CEO often consulted him for business decisions. He was a member of many procurement committees at the International level which determined global processes. He had never let his company down. Naturally, Bharat enjoyed a considerable degree of independence.

With liberalization of the Indian economy, the Company entered a phase of cut throat competition. Headquarters, in London, decided that the business in India needed a more aggressive CEO and a change in leadership took place. The new CEO was from New Zealand who had not worked in India earlier.