RAMESH AND GARGI (A)

Ramesh Sharma, the head of Learning and Development (L&D) at Chrysalis Pharmaceuticals, had
enjoyed his lunch meeting with the Human Resources (HR) head of a large retail company, but he drove
back to his office with mixed feelings. He was happy and unhappy at the same time; happy because he had
options to fall back on if he decided to quit Chrysalis Pharmaceuticals, and unhappy at the thought of
leaving his dream job. Chrysalis Pharmaceuticals, a large multinational drug manufacturer, had set up shop
in India in 2009 and had its corporate headquarters in Chennai, the capital of the southern state of Tamil
Nadu. Ramesh had been handpicked by its CEO, Raman Murthy, and vice president of HR, Kamla Saxena,
to head the L&D department. Kamla had been Chrysalis’s third employee and Ramesh, its fifth. Chrysalis
had grown from strength to strength in the last four years, had set up manufacturing plants in four cities in
India and currently employed 1,200 people. During this period, Ramesh had partnered with Kamla not only
on the onboarding, training and career planning of new hires but also on putting in place sound HR policies
and practices. However, the last six months had been strange and discomforting, and he was unsure of the
messages he was receiving from Kamla.

When Raman and Kamla invited him to interview for a role at Chrysalis, Ramesh was elated that
his potential had been recognized. He had worked at a large oil company in all the divisions of HR for more
than 15 years. The organization employed 25,000 people across 15 locations and had complex HR systems
and processes in place. An alumnus of the Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PMIR)
program of Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Ramesh had stayed on in his first job and risen to
become the deputy HR head there. Raman’s vision and Kamla’s positive energy had attracted Ramesh to
Chrysalis. Having worked so long for a large and bureaucratic process-driven organization, he felt he was
ready to work for change and to test his abilities in an entrepreneurial culture. Implementing the same old
practices in the same, predictable environment was becoming a tad tedious.

Now, driving through the streets of Chennai, he replayed the sequence of events of the last few
months in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to comprehend what had happened and
how he had arrived at this point. It was in August, about seven months earlier, that he had first met Gargi
Sinha, a young MBA graduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). He had bumped into Gargi
and Kamla in the elevator. Kamla introduced Gargi as a new Chrysalis recruit who would join the L&D
department and have the additional responsibility of handling corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the
company. Ramesh was taken aback; he had neither requested an additional team member, nor had Kamla
mentioned anything to him about a new hire during their frequent meetings. His four-member team was
functioning well and was able to service the needs of the organization, or so he had thought.

Gargi followed him into his office and made herself comfortable, rather too easily Ramesh thought.
She talked animatedly about how excited she was to be part of his team and her ideas for training women
and setting up diversity initiatives and wellness camps for employees of different age groups. She told him
about her experience at Microsoft, which she had joined straight out of college and where she had worked
in L&D for three years. Gargi also mentioned that Kamla had spotted her at a “women in industry” seminar
two weeks earlier and had approached her about joining Chrysalis. To his astonishment, Gargi told him that
Kamla had informed her that building a diversity and inclusion initiative was an area of requirement for
Chrysalis. It was the first he had heard of it.

Gargi further volunteered that she had taken a brief sabbatical for her wedding, after which she had
moved with her husband to Chennai. She had no plans of returning to Microsoft and had thus accepted
Kamla’s offer to join Chrysalis. Gargi added, “I liked Kamla very much and was excited about working
with her on the diversity and inclusion initiative. The meeting happened at the best possible time.” Ramesh
was somewhat disconcerted by her openness and informality. Kamla wanted her to devote about 60 percent
of her time to setting up the CSR initiative, Gargi continued. Ramesh felt a wave of relief that he would not
have to work with her all the time.
 Gargi was ebullient, dressed in western clothes, mostly in bright colors, laughed easily and loudly,
and seemed to have no inhibitions. Ramesh was impressed with her confidence and articulateness. Gargi
appeared to be very well informed about Chrysalis and its HR processes. Kamla must have spent time with
her and briefed her well about the organization, he thought. Ramesh was a little startled when Gargi
abruptly got up to leave, mumbling something about running late for a meeting that she had set up with the
finance and production heads.

In his meeting with Kamla the following day, his plans to talk about Gargi’s onboarding remained
unfulfilled because Kamla spent the whole time praising Gargi, talking about what a great catch she was
and how much convincing she had had to do to persuade her to join the team. Kamla said that Raman had
been impressed by Gargi and her resume, and thus had been enthusiastic about bringing her on board even
though there were no immediate plans for her. She wound up the meeting by asking Ramesh to help realize
Gargi’s potential. Ramesh came out of the meeting gasping, as though he had been punched in the stomach;
he felt blindsided.

Gargi walked into his office the next morning, without an appointment, to talk about her plans for
setting up a virtual women’s forum on the company intranet. She had already secured Kamla’s approval
and had a discussion with the Information Technology (IT) department. One of Ramesh’s team members,
Fiona, had also chipped in and developed some content for the webpage. Ramesh had the distinct feeling
that he had boarded the slow train while Gargi flew past on the express. Events seemed to be unfolding
around him at a terrific speed, while he could only watch. He congratulated Gargi on having gotten so
much done so quickly and offered his help if she should need it. In an attempt to familiarize her with the
way things were done at Chrysalis, Ramesh explained to her that the culture of his team was to discuss a
new initiative with the team before starting work on it. He told her how, in the past, several new ideas had
been improved and embellished with additions from the other team members. Gargi readily agreed to the
value of working in teams. She also added that the idea for a women’s forum was not part of L&D. Ramesh
was left feeling unsure of what message Gargi had received.

Over the next few weeks, Ramesh’s peers spoke appreciatively of Gargi to him on several
occasions. Vikram Agarwal, the head of finance, praised Gargi for her understanding of the balance sheet
and the detailed and relevant budget for CSR that she had presented to him. Vikram had joked, “Gargi will
be my assistant in helping you understand the ’cost’ of L&D in HR language.” Ramesh was taken aback to
hear the notoriously hard-to-please Vikram praising anybody and was unable to appreciate the joke. Then,
during the monthly executive committee meeting, Raman made special mention of the diversity and
inclusion initiatives that were being developed by L&D. Kamla had beamed knowingly at Ramesh.

Ramesh could count several instances in the last few months where he had heard about a new
diversity and inclusion initiative only when it had been launched or just before its formal launch. He
bristled as he recalled the time he ran into a former colleague from his previous organization while
shopping with his family at the department store, Westside, one evening. She spoke enthusiastically about
the panel discussion she was going to be a part of the following day at Chrysalis and praised him for
making progressive strides in the area of women’s leadership. Ramesh had not known how to respond. He
tried hard to maintain a poker face and not reveal that this was the first time he had heard about the event.
To his surprise, he found himself saying, “It must have been Gargi’s idea. You will meet her tomorrow.
She is very talented and a high performer.” His wife was baffled by his sudden change of mood as he
dragged his family home from Westside, effectively putting an end to the anticipated shopping and movie
outing.

The next morning, Ramesh checked his inbox, not expecting to find any information about the
event. He saw that Gargi had marked a copy of the event flyer to him as information. Her email had been
sitting unopened for the last three days. He had not attended to the email because it had not been
specifically addressed to him. He had been busy with something else and had only opened emails that were
directly addressed to him or were marked urgent. Gargi’s had been a general email.
 He realized this had been a pattern with Gargi. She always copied him and Kamla on her emails
about her various activities and plans but never approached Ramesh to discuss them or seek his advice or
suggestions. On the few occasions that there had been a discussion of her activities at a team meeting,
Ramesh’s recommendations had not found their way into the final plan. Ramesh, on the other hand,
discussed everything with Kamla and valued her perspective. He believed that it was important that any
major activity concerning L&D be discussed by the whole team; good ideas had emerged when they had
planned collaboratively.
The following morning he went to Kamla’s office intending to tell her that he really did not like
being surprised about things that were happening in his department. “What did you think of the diversity
and inclusion discussion yesterday?” Ramesh began. “It was very good. It is about time we started these
initiatives,” was Kamla’s reply. “As the head of L&D, do you think I should be involved in the planning of
such activities in the future?” Ramesh asked, tentatively broaching the topic of Gargi’s running-with-the-
ball tendency. “By all means,” replied Kamla. Encouraged, Ramesh remarked, “Oh, Gargi does not often
discuss these things with me”. But Kamla was pressed for time; she had forgotten that she had a meeting to
attend. “Why don’t you just sort it out with Gargi? Give her space and teach her about the culture of the
place,” Kamla suggested as she gathered her things. She also observed that, at the end of the day, he must
be pleased with the excellent work being done in his department. After all, it was for the benefit of the
organization. Kamla told him how pleased she was with the rapid progress the L&D department was now
making. It was obvious to Ramesh that she was proud of Gargi and appreciated her very much. Kamla was
usually not very effusive in expressing her feelings; however, in this case, there was no hiding the fact that
Gargi had become her favorite.
Gargi was hardworking and focused on her responsibilities and was independently able to handle
complex tasks. Since CSR was a new inititative, she reported directly to Kamla and the head of finance,
Vikram, for 60% of her role. For the remaining 40%, she reported to Ramesh. In casual conversations with
Vikram, Ramesh had tried to gauge his assessment of Gargi. Vikram had been noncommittal. He would
only say that CSR was a new initiative and he was waiting to see how it would unfold. Ramesh often heard
Gargi’s loud laughter across the hallway and wondered how Kamla could be so enamored by her. Kamla
was a reserved, no-nonsense, conservative woman.
Ramesh had observed that Gargi maintained very erratic timings. He had sometimes found her
logged in at 4 am and missing during the day. She would travel to various locations on diversity and
inclusion or CSR business without informing him. At Chrysalis, the culture was informal and self-driven.
People planned their own work schedules. Informally, however, team members would let each other and
their leader know their general whereabouts.

Gargi was also often unavailable for regular L&D activities and had once refused to coordinate an
event that he had organized for senior management on strategic planning, saying that it was not part of her
role. However, he also noted that she was able to garner the support of members of his team for some of her
events. Apart from Fiona, who was the senior L&D coordinator with 20 years of experience, his team
comprised of Debjeet and Saurabh, who looked after regular technical training programs for the operational
staff, and Naresh, who worked closely with the marketing head and was in charge of training medical
representatives. Ramesh’s team had run like a well-oiled machine, with its members supporting each other,
building on each other’s ideas and pitching in for each other. They had worked seamlessly in delivering
L&D’s agenda. They also had had a culture of mutual respect, of keeping all team members in the loop,
decision making by consensus and striving for excellence.

Ramesh noticed that Fiona and Gargi were spending more time together. They would take tea and
lunch breaks at the same time. On a couple of occasions when Naresh and Debjeet had raised the subject of
Gargi missing meetings or not seeming like a team member, Fiona had discouraged further discussion.
Ramesh worried about the impact Gargi may be having on the team. Lately, Debjeet had
uncharacteristically asked for permission to come in late or leave early a few times. Naresh had started a
new initiative for medical representatives, which Ramesh only came to know about from the marketing
head, Abhinav Sood.
 Ramesh recalled that whenever he had taken his annual mandatory three-week vacation in the past,
Kamla would call him several times to discuss various issues she was facing. Being on the phone with
Kamla had kept him in touch with what was happening in the organization and made it easy for him to slip
back into work on his return. However, during his most recent vacation, Kamla had not called him once.
When he had called Fiona a couple of times to remind her of some deadline or other, everything seemed to
be going perfectly. Ramesh wondered if Gargi’s presence had something to do with this state of affairs.
When he spoke to his wife about his misgivings, she pointed out that he had taken his vacation during his
lean period that year. In the past, he had vacationed in the summer, when more L&D events took place.
Ramesh dismissed his wife’s observation and continued to feel left out during his time off from work.

On Kamla’s recommendation, Gargi was selected to coordinate the “Great Places to Work” survey
for Chrysalis. Chrysalis was participating in the survey for the first time, so a lot of legwork was required to
compile all the necessary information. Gargi worked hard to collect the data and present it to the visiting
team. A week before the results was to be announced, Raman received an advance copy of the results,
which included a special mention for Chrysalis for its diversity and inclusion practices. The company was
also named the “Most Promising New Entrant” in the list of Great Places to Work. Delighted, Raman
forwarded the letter to all the division heads and arranged a celebratory dinner for them.

Ramesh was surprised to see Gargi at the dinner. She was neither a division head nor senior enough
to be invited. With her lively manner and friendly personality, she endeared herself to everyone there.
Ramesh saw her chatting familiarly with several senior people. He was sure she was meeting many of the
division heads for the first time. There would have been no reason or occasion for her to have met them
before this event. He was impressed by her ability to connect so easily with people. Raman made a speech
congratulating all those present and made a point of applauding Gargi’s hard work, which had made it
possible for Chrysalis to receive this recognition.

When he went to congratulate Gargi in person, he found her in a serious conversation with Kamla
and Raman. They were asking her about her comfort with other aspects of L&D and her possible interest in
expanding her role. Ramesh felt certain that he had overheard a conversation that was not meant for his ears
and quickly walked away. He felt deeply unsettled, and, on an impulse, left the party soon after without
having even congratulated Gargi. His wife was surprised, and more than a little concerned, to see him
return from the dinner so early without having eaten. He had been unable to explain to her how and what he
was feeling. Neither did he tell her that on his way back home, he had answered a couple of pending
messages from headhunters.

Questions:
1. Who is responsible for this situation?
2. How is Kamla responsible?
3. How is Ramesh Responsible?
4. What is the story about and who do you most identify with in this story?
5. Develop lists of individual characteristics and perceptions of each other and discuss them.
6. How is Gargi not responsible, and yet, why is managing Gargi important?