ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT -1

Submitted To

Submitted By

Ms. Asha Bhandarker

Aditi Singh

(16PGDM064)

Arjun Dhingra

(16PGDM069)
PGDM(2016-18)
Section-B

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Interviewee and Company Profile

1.1 Interviewee Profile
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1.2 Company Profile

Chapter 2 Interview Analysis

4
2.1 Technology acting as a motivation factor

2.2 Gender as a measure of Surface-Level Diversity

2.3 The Importance of Management Skills
2.4 Leadership Skills

2.5 Conflicts at the Workplace

2.6 Using intuition at the workplace

Chapter 3 Learning from the interview

Appendix

CHAPTER-1

INTERVIEWEE AND COMPANY PROFILE

1.1 Interviewee Profile

Col (Retd.) Samir Dhaga, Senior Vice President and CIO,PI Industries Ltd., is a very
dynamic and learned person. He has pursued M.Tech in Industrial Engineering from IIT
Delhi and has a work experience of 29 years in the IT and Telecom Industry. Mr.Dhaga has
worked at distinguished positions in some of the most well-known organizations like IBM
India Pvt. Ltd. and Videocon D2H, to name a few. Mr.Dhaga has also served the Army. He
was the Director of Army Cyber Security Establishment for 2 years.
Col (Retd.) Dhaga has expertise in the field of IT Operations, IT Service Management,
Vendor

Management, Information Security, Telecommunications, IT strategy, Integration,

Team Management, Project Management, Program Management, CRM, Leadership roles,

etc.
Col (Retd.) Dhaga has a diversified work profile and has an inclination towards the
technology sector.

1.2 Company Profile

PI Industries Ltd (PI) was incorporated in 1947 (as Mewar Oil & General Mills Ltd.) with its
registered office in the lake city of Udaipur, Rajasthan.
PI is a leading Agri Input and Custom Synthesis & Manufacturing company in India. With
over 5 decades of brand, experience in working with millions of Indian farmers and vast
marketing & distribution set up in India, PI offers to market innovative Agri Input products in
India. With highly accredited R&D, laboratory and manufacturing set up for fine chemicals,
PI offers support in the process research and contract manufacturing needs of newly
discovered molecules." PI Industries currently operates three formulation and two
manufacturing facilities as well as eight multi-product plants under its three business units
across Gujarat. PI is a BSE & NSE listed Company.

CHAPTER-2
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INTERVIEW ANALYSIS

2.1 Technology acting as a Motivational Factor

Technology is nowadays one of the factors which motivate employees to work persistently
towards achieving a goal, because technology bridges the gap between the employees and
between different hierarchical levels in the organization. Since, employees can now stay
connected to the organization 24X7, thus the commitment level of the employees to the
organization increases and also working in a team becomes much easier for employees as
with the aid of technology like Email service, video-conferencing, Skype calls, etc.,
employees can communicate with each other from anywhere, when needed, and coordinate in
a better manner. So, in a way technology motivates employees to work as a team and be more
focused towards achieving the organizational goal.

2.2 Gender as a measure of Surface-Level Diversity

Unfortunately, sex roles still affect everyones perceptions. For example, women who
succeed in traditionally male domains are perceived as less likeable, more hostile and less
deliverable as supervisor. But, nowadays, there are an increasing number of women working
in the organization at various hierarchical levels and also the rate of absenteeism among
women employees is declining, thus the perception about women employees is gradually
changing in the organizations, and the surface-level diversity in terms of gender is improving
in the organizations.

2.3 The Importance of Management Skills

Researchers have identified three broad categories of management skills- Technical Skills,
Human Skills and Conceptual Skills.
Technical skills encompass the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
Human skills involve the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups.Conceptual skills means the mental ability to analyze and diagnose
complex situations.
All the above mentioned skills are important for efficient management, but the order of
prominence of these skills vary from department to department. For example, for the
technical department the decreasing order of importance of these skills will be as follows:
Technical, Conceptual, Human, whereas for HR department the order will be- Human,
Conceptual, and Technical. Nevertheless, the most important fact here is the growing
importance of human resource in the organization. An organization is made up of its
employees who come from diverse backgrounds and culture. Many people are technically
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proficient but poor listeners, unable to understand the need of others, or weak at managing
conflicts. Because managers, of any department in an organization, get things done through
other people, they must have good human skills.

2.4 Leadership Skills

Leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of a vision or set of
goals. Though leadership style varies from organization to organization or from one sector to
another, but the fundamental principles of leadership is applicable in every organization and a
good hold on these skills can enable a person to lead his/her team in any organization.
Some of the basic principles of leadership are as follows- Leaders should always lead by
example, Leaders must be an active participant in the work being done, leaders must set
challenging goals for their employees, leaders should motivate employees to participate
actively, leaders must establish a clear vision for the future, etc.

2.5 Conflicts at the workplace

Conflict, that is, difference of opinion, or a process that begins when one party perceives that
another party has negatively affected, not only becomes a roadblock for team work and
achieving organizational goals, but also affects bonding at the workplace. It is in fact one of
the factors responsible for less friendly relations at the workplace.

2.6 Using Intuition at Workplace

Intuition is a gut feeling not necessarily supported by research. While, intuition might be
helpful in taking very quick and not so significant business decisions, but most organizations
prefer to take decisions based on facts and objectivity to avoid risk. Risk taking is an
important factor when an organization wants to grow by leaps and bounds, but it is always
better to take calculated risk, for which, being fully dependent on intuition might not be the
best choice.

CHAPTER-3
5

LEARNING FROM THE INTERVIEW

Following are some of our takeaways from the interview:

Technology has and will always play a major role in an organization, a good
knowledge of technical skills will help a manager direct his team and manage the task
at hand more effectively

All the three broad categories of Management Skills, i.e., Technical skills, Human
skills, and Conceptual skills are important for a manager, but their degree of
importance varies from department to department and one key point to note here is the
increasing importance of human skills. A manager, how so ever good at technical
skills, can never manage effectively if he lacks human skills. An organization is made
up of its employees and to direct those employees to work towards achieving a goal
together, human skills come very handy, be it in any department of an organization

The fundamental Principles Of Leadership remain the same in every organization or

sector, but the organizational culture varies. For example, Army follows the same
leadership principle like that of a Corporate, but the two are very different in terms of
their culture. On one hand, the Army is very human centric, whereas on the other
hand, the Corporate is less human centric and more profit oriented

Employees are mostly Less Connected To Each Other and are more indifferent
towards each at the workplace due to stressful work environment and conflict of
interests. In such a situation its important to accommodate each others differences,
so that the main aim of achieving the organizational goal is not hampered

Some of the most important traits an organization looks for in a potential candidate is
technical skills, communication skills and presence of some leadership traits as well
as Ability To Convince. Leadership traits like the willingness to take initiative, ability
to convince others, ability to work in a team and direct the team towards taking a
tough challenge and achieving it, is very important for a manager.

Intuition may come handy when one has to take a very quick decision which might
not be so significant, but mostly its preferable that business decisions be based on
Objectivity and facts so as to reduce risk

APPENDIX

Interview Transcript
Aditi: What changes have you witnessed in terms of the work culture over the long span you
have been working here?
Col (Retd.) Samir Dhaga: There are four most evident and important factors which have
changed the work culture in organizations over the years:
1) Impact of technology- Technological advancement has had a huge impact on the work
culture. The way employees respond to the work environment has changed drastically due to
the introduction of digital medium. Previously, everything was more manual in organizations
and employees were less connected to their workplace because there was no way by which
they could virtually connect to the organization. But over the years, technology made it
possible for employees to stay connected to the organization even from a great distance. This
made it possible for employees to be always available and thus lead to a culture of working
while on the go, as well as team work, because employees also can now easily coordinate
with each other via various digital media.
2) Quality of customer handling- It has been observed that in B2C and retail businesses, the
quality of customer handling has improved significantly. This is because the customer can
now reach out to the business in lesser time and greater numbers through social media and
with the help of emails.
3) Gender diversity- The workplaces have become more diverse in terms of gender, in todays
time. More number of women are now working in the organizations, even at distinguished
positions and are serving in sectors like automobiles, civil engineering, mechanical
engineering , etc., which were previously dominated by the male members of the society.
4) Deliverables- In my opinion, with the advent of technology, focus has shifted from
subjectivity to objectivity in the organizations because a rich repository of data is now easily
available at a single click. Thus, the focus on performance and productivity has now
increased by leaps and bounds.

Arjun: Does technology also acts as barrier while managing the workforce?
Col. Dhaga: In my opinion and what I have seen, technology, though has its negative
aspects, can never act as a barrier when it comes to managing the workforce, it always acts a
bridge, for example, video conferencing is widely used nowadays in organizations to conduct
meetings, this technology not only bridges the distance but also helps in saving time and cost
incurred if one would have to travel. Email is one of the most used technology in
organizations. Its much better than oral communication because it acts as a written proof and
if a senior level person is approving of an email or sending an email to someone, he/she has
to take the liability for it. Also through emails and other forms of technology one can reach
out to every single employee in less time.

Aditi: There are mainly three categories of Management skills- Technical Skills, Human
Skills and Conceptual Skills, which of these you think is of prime importance at the
workplace?
Col. Dhaga.: All the three management skills are of importance at the workplace, but their
order of importance varies from department to department. For example, In the R&D
Department, the order of these three skills are as follows- Conceptual, Technical, Human
Skills, i.e., Conceptual Skills are of highest importance in a R&D Department. In an HR
Department, the orders of these skills are as follows- HR, Technical, Conceptual. In a
Technical Department, the required skills in its decreasing order are as follows- Technical,
Conceptual, Human Skills.
Nevertheless, it must be remembered that due to high pressure to perform and exhaustive
work environment at the workplace, human skills has become one of the common skills
required in each department and human elements cannot be ignored at any cost.

Arjun: Since, you have also worked in Army, what is the primary difference between Army
and Corporate world in your opinion?
Col. Dhaga: The fundamental principle of leadership and knowing your job well is present
both in Army and the Corporate, but both of these sectors are different in their approach
towards work. On one hand, the Corporate is less regimented, can give some relaxation when
it comes to time limits, and less human resource centric as well as less emotionally sensitive
towards the problems faced by its employees, when compared to Army. Whereas, on the other
hand, Army is more hierarchical in structure, more regimented, follows stricter time schedule
as compared to Corporates but is human resource centric. Army people are very
compassionate and take care of all others working in the Army like a family member. This is
the only part, where Corporate falls behind. Human connect is not there so much in
Corporate, be it in India or all over the world.

Arjun: Why it is that employee connection factor is low at the workplace or people are less
friendly?
Col. Dhaga: There are a number of factors due to which employees connect less with each
other at a workplace like- busy schedule, the pressure of delivering the service at time, interdepartmental conflicts, conflicts of interest within the department, different human behavior
and unwillingness to accommodate differences. Mostly conflict of interests restrains people
from forming friendly relations at the workplace.
Aditi: What are the traits an organization looks for while recruiting employees at
management level?
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Col. Dhaga: An organization expects a candidate to have following skills:

1) Technical Skills- Knowledge related to the domain one wants to work in like Finance,
Marketing, HR, IT etc. Also the candidate should have a good educational background,
should have scored decent grades in the past. Also, it is an advice on my part to take summer
internships during your post-graduation course quite seriously as it will form the most
important part of your CV during final placements.
2) Communication Skills- Good communication skills is a prerequisite for getting recruited at
a managerial post. How well one can express ones view, matters a lot in an organization.
3) Convincing ability and some leadership qualities- The way a candidate answers, will
determine whether he can convince others or not. Its also important for a candidate to see
himself/herself in leadership roles and also to possess some of the leadership qualities like
that of working in a team, taking initiatives, good convincing ability, the ability to drive the
team forwards towards a common goal, etc.

Aditi: How important a role does intuition plays in decision making at a managerial
position in your opinion?
Col. Dhaga: Business decision should always be based on facts, data and objectivity, so as to
reduce the risk of failure. While, some very small and not so significant decisions might be
taken based on intuition, but for significant business decisions as well as in the long run, the
basis of decision making should be objectivity. Consider the case of Nokia, it decided not to
go for android based on subjectivity, although the time when it took such a decision,
androids market share was rising, and in the end that decision proved to be wrong for Nokia.
Therefore, good business decisions should always be based on objectivity.

EMAIL COPIES

Aditi Singh <aditi.p16@imi.edu>

Request for providing an appointment for interview

Aditi Singh <aditi.p16@imi.edu>
To: samir.dhaga@piind.com
Cc: Arjun Dhingra <Arjun.p16@imi.edu>

Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 10:53 AM

Dear Sir
Warm greetings on behalf of Arjun Dhingra & Aditi Singh, students of IMI New Delhi.
Sir we have been assigned the task of interviewing an experienced manager in the Organizational
Behavior subject, and it would be an honour for us if you'll give us an opportunity to interview you.
We would therefore request you to kindly, if possible, lend us your precious time and enlighten us
more about the corporate world.
Thank you
Best Regards
Arjun Dhingra
Aditi Singh
PGDM (2016-18 batch)
IMI New Delhi

Aditi Singh <aditi.p16@imi.edu>

Request for providing an appointment for interview

Samir Dhaga <samir.dhaga@piind.com>
To: Aditi Singh <aditi.p16@imi.edu>
Cc: Arjun Dhingra <Arjun.p16@imi.edu>

Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 11:03 AM

Let's try to catch up on Thursday 3 pm.

Regards,
Samir
[Quoted text hidden]

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