Reliance

Infrastructure Limited

A Report on ‘Best Practices in

managing change’

By:

Utkarsh (8)
Mridu (9)
Priyanka (18)
Vaibhav (41)
Mallika (47)
Anirudh (53)
Contents

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………4
Change Management………………………………………………………………..4
Technology change……………………………………………………………….....7
Changes at Reliance Energy LTd……………………………………………….......7
Technological changes at REL……………………………………………………...8
What is GIS?...............................................................................................................8
Applications of GIS………………………………………………………………...10
How did Reliance Energy implement and manage the GIS technology change?......11

Employees reaction to changes……………………………………………………...12

Measures taken by the management………………………………………………...12
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..13

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to dignitaries from Reliance Infrastructure who guided
us throughout and imparted us knowledge about the various change management practices
followed by Reliance.
First and foremost we want to thank Mr. Rajeev Bhadauria, President HR REL who remained
our guiding force throughout the project in having introduced us to relevant persons and steering
our research in the right direction.
We would also like to thank Mr. Deepak Chawla, The Learning Head REL and Mr. Uday
Lajmi, Dean REMI for taking us through the change that actually took place in Reliance Infra
starting from 2002, when REL took over BSES.
Last but not the least we would like to express our gratitude to Mr.Pradeep Thomas, Senior
manager Corporate IT-GIS who introduced and explained to us the functioning of GIS
technology and management of technology change.

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MANAGING TECHNOLOGY CHANGES AT RELIANCE
INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

INTRODUCTION

In this dynamic world, change is the only constant. With the advent of globalization it has
become very important to adapt quickly to the changing environment. With Globalization,
mergers and takeovers are now crossing national boundaries. Organizations now face a new
challenge in understanding people, cultures and markets from across the world. These changing
scenarios demand a different approach to stay atop in this world of growing competition. Further,
technological changes are driving markets and it is essential to adapt these systemic changes.
Companies need to benchmark their practices and processes against the best in the industry so as
to be more productive in terms of time, cost and labor. Tools like communication and training
help them to achieve these changes. Role of the managers is very important to communicate the
processes to the entire workforce. Assessment of the current position of an organization shall
constitute the first step in change management. Further managing the change involves different
aspects like planning, executing, managing and retaining. Finally, it is very important to sustain
the implemented change.

We have looked into aspects of managing change with focus on technology changes at Reliance
Infrastructure. We will be dwelling into the different facets the management looked at while
planning, implementing and managing changes. We have looked into aspects like resistance from
employees to change in processes, implementing training programs, managing costs in lieu of
change. At Reliance a new System for network monitoring was being introduced, called as the
Geographical information system (GIS). This required chalking plans for network topologies,
conveying the technology change to the linemen who were into the conventional mode of
correcting faults. It also involved planning for training programs to execute changes faster and
make the workforce skilled at the new technology. We discuss the various challenges the
management faced in implementing these changes and how the change was managed.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change management helps organizations deal with change both at an individual and an
institutional level. Change management comprises of three main aspects:
o Adjustment or Adapting
o Controlling Change

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 o Effectively Applying the Change

However achieving the three, means that the company needs to simulate the change at a
hypothetical level and pre-empt any challenges that might arise. Companies need to apply
change management principles all the time as one can comfortably assume that ‘change is the
only constant’. Companies need to constantly bring about technological improvements, process
improvements and other company-wide changes. Successfully adapting to these changes requires
the company to create “a culture that just keeps moving all the time.”
Change is not just an easy to use buzzword; it often implies taking hard decisions like
restructuring, retrenchment, and cultural change. This implies that employees who are exposed
to change need to cope with it through behavioral change, change of mental makeup, and change
in outlook. Additionally, change also implies that the organization as a whole needs to help
employees achieve these and often in such a scenario the Human Resources department and
specifically the Learning and Development department needs to take up numerous initiatives to
train and coach employees.
One can safely conclude that change is a near impossibility without employee and management
buy-in, as both of these are inextricably linked to the implementation of the change, whatsoever
it may be. That said companies need to realize that ‘buy-in’ cannot be forcibly bought and each
employee segment needs to be convinced of the benefits of the change. In such a scenario,
effective communication strategies are imperative to reaching the logical end.

Principles of Change Management

Before delving deeper into change management, one would first need to define ‘change’ at an
organizational level. Any change that would require large scale change management initiatives
could have the following features:
o Scale (the change should have an organizational wide impact)
o Duration (should last from at least about a few months to a couple of years)
o Magnitude (should be a significant deviation from status quo),
o Strategic Importance

Having looked at these characteristics one can create a broad guideline that can be helpful in
most scenarios. While a scenario of restructuring and/or retrenchment could be much more
difficult to handle than a technological change, one can assume that these broad guidelines
would help managers in both scenarios.
Address Human Issues: any change will require engaging employees at all levels, and especially
those who are the key stakeholders affected by the change. The organization needs to take into

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account the history of the organization, past human capital issues, organizational structure, and
its overall capacity to adapt to these changes.
Top-Down Approach: Executing change begins with obtaining management buy-in. As such
most employees look up to their managers and top managers to help them adjust to change and
seek any assistance. These managers can thus act as ‘agents of change’ and motivate employees
to embrace change.
Involve every layer. It is imperative that change percolates through each layer of the
organization. This can happen if the organization assigns leaders responsible for bringing about
change
Make the formal case: It is important to make a water tight case for change to be implemented so
that any doubts that may occur to the employees can be cleared away. The case should also
clearly enumerate the objectives of the change so that each employee commits to affecting
change.
Create ownership. Assigned leaders and agents of change should be held responsible for
affecting the change. If these leaders can over-perform on these parameters, they can help
mobilize the rest of the employees.
Communicate Clearly. Communication gap can be a major obstacle in implementation of
change. Employees need to be provided with the right information at the right time so that they
may not face implementation glitches.
Understanding the culture: The leaders should understand and keep into consideration the culture
and behavior prevailing at each level of the organization. Successful change programs can
successfully reach each level of employee organization.
Clearly stating desired outcomes: After understanding the prevailing culture/ status quo, the
desired culture should be stated clearly. The desired culture should be such that it supports the
change program and the new way of doing business. The behavior expected should be addressed
clearly and there should be ways to appreciate or reward such behaviors. This requires
preparation of detailed plan to reach the desired culture.
To adopt the unexpected :The change programs have very detailed and analyzed plans with them
but the change programs may not proceed completely according to the plans. There may be
changes in the external environment, the unexpected problems may arise or reactions and results
may be different. For managing such unanticipated situations, continuous analyzing of the results
of the plan and the ability to adapt to the transformations is necessary.
Communicate at personal level: Changes have to be experienced by one and all. For a successful
change, people have to get involved in the process. The leaders should be honest and speak to
people directly. Some encouragements for bringing in changes like promotions, bonuses and
rewards should be given.

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TECHNOLOGY CHANGE

Technological change (TC) is synonymous to technological development, technological

achievement, and technological progress. Technological change involves process of invention,
innovation and implementation of different technologies or processes. TC is therefore the
invention of a technology (or a process), the continuous process of upgrading a technology in
terms of quality, cost and time and its successful implementation to the overall industry.
CHANGES AT RELIANCE ENERGY LIMITED

Reliance Energy (Currently, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.) took over Bombay Suburban Electric
Supply (BSES). BSES was renamed to Reliance Energy Ltd. Reliance Energy Ltd is now the
largest player in the whole country and it distributes over 5,000 MW of power. It has 5 million
consumers and it is now a nation wide power company which is known to provide world class
quality and reliable power at a very competitive price to its large number of consumers. Reliance
Energy ltd focused on the integrated service which involves generation, transmission,
distribution, trading and bundling of services.
There are huge number of problems and challenges to be faced by a company when it takes over.
The major challenge is the management of its skilled and unskilled employees. Reliance Energy
Ltd with no exception has to face this problem of workforce management but with good strategy
they were able to overcome this problem. Earlier they faced reluctant attitude of its employees
due to change in management and had pessimistic perception of the take over. But Reliance
energy ensured its employees of no job cuts and involved experienced employees in management
committee as well. Reliance Energy Ltd. made its people familiar and expert with the new
technology they brought in by proper training programs. Reliance Energy Ltd. came up with
Geographical Information System to increase operational efficiency. Through such various steps,
Reliance Energy Ltd. was successful in dealing with all problems related to its employees.

Reliance Energy introduced technological changes but that was a challenge for the company to
adapt to the technological changes. GIS was introduced with a vision of building a world class
utility. Reliance Energy had an advantage of bringing in GIS as its sister concern Reliance
Noncom was already using GIS.

Reliance Energy Ltd later then diversified itself and renamed as Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.
Then Reliance Infrastructure has undertaken and worked on many projects like metro rails,
airports, SEZs(Special Economic Zones), roads, highways, bridges, transport systems etc.
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd pays attention to the training of its employees so that they get
acquainted to the work they have to do in the new projects. Every employee is given a training of
2 months at management institute and 8 months on the field under a mentor. Therefore it takes
one year for an employee to work independently in a project.

In our report on ‘best practices in change management’, we shall focus on how Reliance Energy
Ltd. dealt with ‘technology change’ and shall enumerate the best practices followed to bring
about these changes.

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TECHNOLOGY CHANGES AT RIL

The progress made in the Power Sector since independence has not been sufficient. In terms of
generation, while new capacity has been added, demand has far outstripped the supply leading to
a widening gap. The primary reason of the widening gap lies in the distribution link in the value
chain. It is clear that the biggest fundamental issue hampering the viability of the Indian Power
Sector is the sheer volume or level of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses that
amount to 60%, a very high level by any global standard.
So, it became important that the T&D losses were reduced. Implementation of Geographic
Information system has helped significantly for reduction the distribution losses the DISCOMs
of Reliance Energy.

WHAT IS GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing,
managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that
reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

This means that the GIS can provide not only the basic route map of an area but also provide
information (which is stored in the form of a database) relating to each of the component in the
map. Google map is a basic implementation of the GIS. While Google maps provide the area
route, the latitude-longitude of a specific location and other general information about a point,
the GIS provides the single-line diagrams of the generation, transmission and distribution
networks of electricity. Also, along with the locations of substations, transformers, circuit
breakers and other electrical components they also contain information about each of the
component. For e.g., a particular transformer has data regarding its power capacity, KVA rating,
step-up ratio and other related details. These details are integrated into a table in the database
called a ‘Layer’. The geographical information pertaining to the position of that transformer in
the network such as its location, number of feeders connected to it, location of those feeders and
other related data form another table or ‘layer’. The superimposition of all these layers along
with the circuit map is what is called the GIS.

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The GIS is the locational intelligence while the GPS(global positioning system) gives the actual
Latitude-longitude co-ordinates of the points in the map. This Geo-referenced image input from
GPS is merged with data of each of the component and thus GIS maps are created.

The GIS data dictionary developed included all the spatial feature classes / object classes and
their relationships identified based on the functional requirements. This included the entire
network of

 Extra high voltage(EHV) and high voltage(HV)

 EHV Grid Stations and their equipments

 11/0.44 KV Substations and their equipments

 66, 33 and 11 KV Feeders (both over head and underground)

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Initially, the information about the HV & EHV (also called High Tension and Extra high tension)
lines was already stored in the SAP systems so the GIS was keenly implemented for the low
tension lines to capture the following data:

 Consumer Feeding Points 

 LV Support Structures

 LV Feeder Pillars

 Street Light Structures

 LV Feeder Network (0.440 KV) connectivity

APPLICATIONS OF GIS

 Outage management system:

When a fault in the distribution system occurs, the excess current which causes the circuit
breaker to break also helps register a signal in the GIS where the fault has occurred. The
lineman detects in the GIS that a fault has occurred and goes to that location to fix it.
Once the fault is fixed by connecting the wire to a new pillar, the lineman informs the
operator about the change or installation of a new transformer. The operator then updates
it on the GIS.

Once the change is updated the validation is done by the Operations and Maintenance
department.

 Upward traceability:
Sometimes the fault in the system might not be limited to a single cable. The feeder (that
is connected to the cable) which had actually broken down might be the cause of the line
fault. In such cases, the actual fault point is traced on the GIS and the corrective action is
taken at the place where the fault was originated. The absence of such an ‘upward
traceable’ system would lead to the breaking down of all the lines connected to the faulty
feeder.

 Network Analysis:
When a new building is coming up in a locality, it is essential to estimate the number of
H.T cables depending on the power load from the building. Software called CYME
accomplishes this task using data already available on GIS and on SAP.

 Calculate substation losses:

Not all the power generated at the substation reaches the users. Some part of it is lost in
the transmission. There are three types of losses – Technical losses and commercial
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 losses. The losses occurring due to the resistance in the cable account for technical losses
which can be calculated using the resistance-inductance-capacitance attributes of the
cables fed in the GIS system.

 Detection of thefts:
The procedure for calculation of substation losses is used to find out losses at various
lines. A vast disparity between the calculated losses and the actual losses would mean
that there are power thefts at those locations. The vigilance department thus would keenly
observe such theft-pone areas to detect and reduce thefts.

 Generate fault id and historize:

When a consumer calls to the DAKC call center, the CAN (customer account number) is
immediately updated in GIS. The operator then sends a shift engineer to the place of fault
and then the CMS (Customer management system) is updated with the kind and charges
for services provided to the customer.

 Integration with SCADA system:

The SCADA system, i.e. the Supervisory control and data acquisition system was in
place earlier. Now it is integrated with GIS.

HOW DID RIL IMPLEMENT AND MANAGE THE GIS TECHNOLOGY CHANGE?

In Mumbai, electrical transmission is not of ‘overhead’ type. Originally, the distribution lines
were laid underground so the information about the connectivity of various cables to their
respective transformers or substations was almost unknown. The sources of inputs of data were:

1. Linemen: Only the linemen who repaired faults in an area were aware of the network of cables
as they were laid underground.

2. Reliance Infocomm: Reliance Infocomm (now Reliance Communications, a part of Anil

Dhirubhai Ambani group), had laid underground cables and used the already existing electrical
transmission lines for communication purposes. These blueprints, plans and data were utilized by
REL for GIS.

3. Users/customers: Users were queried on different aspects of phase supplies to arrive at how
the lines were connected.

The land base maps were then supplemented with the field survey information conducted by
internal employees as well as the survey contractors. Survey teams were sent to the concerned
locations and the linemen in that region were enquired about the system of cables. These surveys
also aimed at learning about the user information such as name, user account number etc. also to
be fed into the GIS system.

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EMPLOYEES’ REACTIONS TO THE TECHNOLOGY CHANGES

The technology change, i.e. the implementation of GIS in the existing system was not welcomed
by the employees. Most of the employees were field staff – the linemen, field crew, shift
engineers – and were either unfamiliar with technology or uncomfortable working with it. In
fact, some of the white-collared employees also felt that the technology implementation would
bring no phenomenal impact for a sector like utilities sector. That said, REL was committed to
technological improvements and many full time employees could not foresee the salient features
of GIS. The course of moving from the conventional system towards GIS system proved to be
highly beneficial by increasing efficiency.

MEASURES TAKEN BY THE MANAGEMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE CHANGE:

Firstly, the management assured the employees that there will be no job retrenchments. Already,
there was fear among the employees, especially the blue-collared ones, about job losses. Since
the incorporation of technology meant less of field work and more of desk jobs, employee unions
opposed the change. The management informed the unions and also individual workers about the
‘no job cut’ policy.

Secondly, training programmes were conducted for employees to familiarize with GIS and to
show how the field crew also could work and update the system. Also, personal digital assistants
(PDA) were provided to the staff so that the fault could be detected and immediately attended to.
Trainings were conducted by internal staff that was already familiar with the technology.

Also, the training was conducted in a phased manner. i.e., initially a group of employees were
trained about the technology. Each member in this group then trained similar smaller group thus
training the entire staff. Third party trainers (in this case Accenture) were also appointed as team
leaders to train the staff.

Thirdly, instead of appointing top management executives as the agents of change, REL chose
‘brand ambassadors’ within the existing staff. Few among the staff were selected as
spokespersons who could convey to the employees about the change and its advantages. They
also helped do away with any fears of retrenchment.

Next, middle-level staff, i.e., operators who could bridge the processes of the linemen with the
GIS was appointed. Once, the fault was rectified, the linemen would inform the operators of the
changes they made to actual circuit and the operators would update the changes in the GIS.

Finally, online training modules for operators and other technical staff were devised. Training
modules, examinations and their evaluation were made available on the intranet.

CONCLUSION

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We conclude that by following a step-by-step process, REL was able to achieve its objective of
bringing about far-reaching technological change. The company maximized on already existing
resources from its sister companies. Further, they pre-empted any issues that could have risen
and dealt with them beforehand. And finally, they brought buy-in from within the organization
by appointing champions of change in the top management and helping the change percolate to
every level through a top-down strategy. The change was effectively communicated and every
employee was convinced of its positive outcomes.

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