ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

THE APPRAISAL DILEMMA

The date was 25th August, 2016. K. Siva Ramakrishnan (KSRK) was sitting in his chamber
disappointed. Today Tarak Biswas, Avik Bhattacharjee and Nilambar Kumar came into his
chamber individually to tell him that they were very disappointed with their ratings. They
also told him that many people in the project were not happy with the ratings and payback
they received. Two days ago the final appraisal ratings for the year 2014-15 had come out
with all the monetary awards. KSRK was very happy with his teams performance throughout
the year. He wondered what had gone wrong with the evaluations.

The Project
The project, Bhatpara Sewerage Network and Waste Water Treatment project was under
Water and Effluent Treatment business unit (WET BU) of Larsen & Toubro Construction,
Water Smart World and Communication Independent Company (WSW&C IC). The project
scope was about 125 km underground pipeline for sewerage network, 21 Lifting Stations
(LS), 2 Main Pumping Stations (MPS) and 2 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) with
treatment capacity of 10 MLD & 31 MLD (MLD= Million Litre/ Day). The total project cost
was INR 325 crores. The project had a 3:1 stake of NGRBA (National Ganga River Basin
Authority) and KMDA (Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority). L&T ECC acquired
the project under a DBO (Design Build Operate) contract. The project was the first one of its
kind in the Ganga river basin under the Indian central governments Ganga Action Plan
(GAP). L&T had tied up with the Hungarian firm ORGANICA for the latest Fixed Base
Biofilm Activated Sludge (FBAS) Process for commissioning of the STPs.

Manpower Details
The project had a total of 42 permanent employees (PS) and 35 regular employees (RS).
Among them were 7 Construction Managers (4no. M1B, 1 no. M2A, 1no. M2B & 1no. M2C
cadre), 5 Asst. Construction Managers (3no. O2 & 2no. M1A cadre), 5 Senior Engineers (All
O1 cadre), 7 Graduate Engineer Trainees (GET), 15 Diploma Supervisors (10 S1 and 5 S2
cadre) and 3 Diploma Engineering Trainees (DET). The team was high on diversity. Among
the 42 permanent staffs, 18 were from Tamil Nadu, 10 were from Bengal, 5 from Andhra
Pradesh, 3 from Orissa, 2 from Punjab, 2 from UP and 1 each from Bihar and Maharashtra.
Among 3the 5 regular / part time employees, 15 had a Diploma in Engineering and the others
were either graduates or had more than 10 years of experience in construction industry. L&T
had a total 89 sub-contractors working in the project with at least 1500 workmen working at
various construction sites per day.

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Nature of Work
Each day LS&MPS had 500, STPs had 300 and Pipelines had 700 workmen working. The
workers worked in 8-10 hour shifts, depending upon the workload and weather conditions.
The engineers had a 24 hours and 7 days responsibility of their respective sites. They had to
be physically present at the sites or station one of their subordinate supervisors or RS round
the clock. The work never stopped at L&T as each site had sufficient area lighting
arrangements at each. The only exception was in the rainy season, when the work had to stop
as the entire Bhatpara area became prone to waterlogging fatal landslides if the underground
work continued. The work that L&T was undertaking at the Bhatpara project was very risky
in nature, with each day bringing news of landslides in trenches or sumps as the soil
condition was very poor. L&T had erected retaining walls in the form of shoring in trenches
which had a depth of more than 1.75 meter.

Accommodation and Transportation Details

All the staff of the project used to live in Bhatpara, West Bengal. The PS, who were
unmarried, were accommodated in three apartments comprising of 20 flats. The Construction
Managers had their own separate guest houses. The PS staff with family lived in separate
rented houses or flats. All the accommodation rents were charged from the projects overhead
cost. Each apartment had one common room, 2 LED television sets with unlimited channels,
one kitchen and two cooks. The PS used to run their own mess in each apartment separately.
For transportation and site visits each PS was assigned bikes or cars according to their cadres
or requirements. In total, there were 25 bikes and 8 cars taken on a monthly rent basis in the
project. The monthly vehicle rent was also paid by L&T. Each bike had a limit of 30 liters of
petrol reimbursed by L&T, per month. The cars did not have any fuel limit. All the vehicles
had log-books. Each PS had to fill their respective log-books every day and get it verified by
the IR-Admin person on a monthly basis.

The Appraisal System

The HR department from each BU of L&T Construction sent the appraisal forms every year
in the month of April, online through Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) to each permanent
staff (PS). Each PS had their login ID and password in the portal. They filled the form along
with the qualitative and quantitative data of total work done for the financial year. The PS
also quantified the total monetary value of the work done in that appraisal form. This form
when submitted by the PS in portal used to go to the next hierarchy of their respective
projects, i.e. Construction Manager and Project Manager. The appraisal forms were sent to
L&T ECC Chennai headquarters by the project Accountant after they were approved by the
respective Project Managers of the projects. The Project Managers would modify the data
claimed by the PS and refer certain individuals for promotion. The ratings were given out of
8 credit points. It started from Poor (1-3), Vital (4-5), Top Performer (6-7) and Outstanding
(8). The poor performers were cautioned and did not receive a Performance Related Bonus.
The Vital performers were awarded INR 30,000- INR 45,000, top Performers would receive
INR 60,000 INR 1,25,000 and the Outstanding performers would receive INR 2,00,000

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each with a promotion. Usually a PS would get promoted automatically, if they accumulated
12 credit points.

KSRKs Perspective
KSRK was the Project Manager of the project. He was a native of Tamil Nadu and described
himself as a Tamilian by heart. He was a Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani and an
Executive MBA holder from IIM Ahmedabad. He had over 20 years of experience in L&T
ECC. KSRK was a good orator and an excellent motivator. He was well versed in English,
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. He had excellent communication skills with all his
subordinates and sub-contractors. However, he would switch to Tamil when conversing the
other Tamilians in the project. Often, he would address meetings in Tamil and other regional
languages. He was a person who had a very high regard for himself and would be immensely
pleased when he received compliments for himself or his skills. KSRK was a non-smoker and
non-drinker. He had a dislike towards drinking and smoking.
KSRK was very vigilant and observed each of his subordinates closely. He was happy with
the proceedings of the project. Though they were far from his targets, he accepted that his
team was performing beyond expectation provided the amount of risk involved. He
monitored some of the Senior Staffs and Supervisors very closely. They were Assistant
Managers Nilambar Kumar and MC Dinakaran, Senior Engineers Tarak Biswas, Debojyoti
Pal, Shankar Marimuthu and Avik Bhattacharjee, Supervisors Anupam Talukdar, K
Dharmarajan and T Marikannan. Each of them were assigned personal bikes. According to
KSRKs observation Nilambar and Tarak often threw parties in their apartment. He had
noticed them leaving work early a number of times. He had also noticed that Avik was very
soft-spoken and never raised his voice at his subordinates.

Tarak Biswass Story

Tarak, a Civil engineer, was a 2008 pass out of Jadavpur University, West Bengal. He had
previously worked with McKintos Burn and SPCL before joining L&T ECC in April 2013.
He had a total of 7.5 years of experience in the construction industry. Though he had a good
experience, his cadre was O1.
Tarak felt that, considering his experience compared to his peers he should be at least at the
M1A cadre. When Tarak joined L&T, he was initially posted in the Contracts department of
Chennai HQ. He was subsequently transferred to Bhatpara project after 5 months following a
request from him to be stationed at a location close to his family as they needed his support.
He had to go through a lot of disagreement with his boss in the HQ Contracts department for
the transfer approval.
Tarak, who was married in 2013 came from a lower middle class background and respected
the value of money and worked hard for it. He did not believe in wasting time at the
workplace and would leave to Nilambars flat as soon as he was done for the day. He was a
fun loving person who loved to cook. Together with Nilambar, he would prepare good food
and have a few drinks, before heading home. This was Nilambar and Taraks routine for at
least three days a week.

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Tarak was promised a promotion in the subsequent year of his joining, which did not come
through. He was the in-charge of a total of 15 kms of pipelines of high depth (>3 mtr) worth
of INR 35 crores. For the financial year of 2014-15 he had completed a total of 6 kms of
pipeline with average depth of 4 mtr. He had completed 57% of his total allotted cost of work
with respect to his target of 75%. Thus, when the ratings of 2014-15 came out, he expected a
promotion with at least a 6.5 rating. He also expected a minimum performance bonus of INR
1,00,000.However, when the ratings came out, he was astonished and disappointed on
receiving a Vital with 4.5 rating and a bonus of INR 40,000. He started thinking about
resigning.
Though the employees were supposed to discuss the ratings, he received information that all
the Tamilians had got a minimum rating of with Dinakaran and Dharmaraj receiving a rating
of 8 each. He observed that none of them had achieved even 50% of their yearly targets. To
Taraks utter surprise Debojyoti Pal got a 7.5 rating with bonus of INR 1, 50,000. Though
Debojyoti was working in the riskiest part of pipelines, he had not achieved even 35% of his
target. Tarak had noticed that Debojyoti stayed in the office late into night after returning
from site and surf the web and use the social networking site Facebook.

Nilambar Kumars Story

Nilambar, a bachelor was a fun loving person who also loved to cook. He occasionally
enjoyed a couple of drinks with Tarak. He was a Mechanical Engineer from Andhra
University. He graduated in 2009. He had worked with Godrej in the Visakhapatnam shipyard
previously and had a total of 5 years of experience. He was as Assistant Manager in the O2
cadre.
Being a mechanical engineer he was not very happy being posted in Bhatpara project, as
there was not much scope of work for him at this stage. The project was in its starting phase
and maximum work was in civil construction. He was also assigned the charge of 12 kms of
pipeline in addition to his mechanical responsibilities against his will by KSRK. He had
several arguments with KSRK about this assignment. Eventually Nilambar was compelled to
take the responsibility. As he had good communication skills and apt learning skills, he was
able to perform the civil work seamlessly.
Like Tarak, he would also complete his daily site visits and other assignments early and
return to his apartment. As far as targets were concerned Nilambar had completed 65% of his
given target as the average depth of pipeline in his area was less than 3 meters. Nilambar was
happy with his accomplishments and expected a rating of at least 6. However, he received a
Vital with 4 rating and a bonus of INR 35,000.

Avik Bhattacharjees Story

Avik was a Civil Engineer. He passed out in 2013 from Haldia Institute of Technology and
subsequently joined L&T in June, 2013 as a GET from campus recruitment. In 2014, he was
promoted to Senior Engineer (O1 cadre) after 11 months of probationary period.
Avik was the in-charge of 31 MLD STP Civil Construction. The total budgeted cost of
construction under him was INR 20 crores. He had two diploma supervisors under him. He

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had a good communication skill with his subordinates and could get work done without
raising his voice. He was very calm and cool in nature.
In the financial year of 2014-15, Avik completed the Pile Foundation and the Raft Foundation
along with external walls of the STP structure. Total invoice amount from client KMDA for
Aviks job was INR 9.75 crores. Considering the mobilization TIME and approach road
constraint to the 31 MLD STP site, this was a good achievement. Avik was expecting a 6
rating. However, he had also received a Vital with 4 rating and a bonus of INR 30,000. He
was really disappointed with the ratings and had thoughts of resigning to prepare for the
entrance exam CAT to continue his education.

The Confrontation
After two days of the disclosure of appraisal ratings, all three- Tarak, Nilambar and Avik
decided to have a one on one conversation with KSRK.
Tarak was told to concentrate on his work and do better. KSRK again assured him of giving
promotion the next year.
Nilambar handed over to KSKS a transfer request to the Patna site. KSRK declined
Nilambars request. KSRK told him that the mechanical work would start soon. Therefore, he
cannot release Nilambar. KSRK also told him that he was an important member of his core
team.
Avik went in to KSRKs chamber and handed him his resignation. KSRK tried his best to
convince him as he had to answer the top management if a GET turned O1 resigns. Avik was
offered INR 5000 per month increment from January17. Avik eventually decided not to
resign and thought of joining CAT classes in Sundays to continue his preparations
simultaneously.

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