Case Study

Human Resources
Domain Human Resources
Name of the Case: Identifying and Designing alternative avenues for career growth and
associating rewards and recognition with them.

Introduction

Tata Steel offers career opportunities in many diverse fields spread across Mining,
Manufacturing, Corporate Services, Research & Development, Marketing, And Sales etc. With
plethora of opportunities, it also nurtures and develops your career by providing career growth
opportunities in the form of vertical, horizontal, cross functional movements etc. within and
outside the organization.
Tata Steel has a flat hierarchical org structure with 6 levels i.e. from Impact level 6 (Asst.
Manager) to Impact Level 1 (Vice-President).

Vice President
(IL1)

Tenure based Eligibility for

From To Promotions (Minimum Years to
Spend in lower IL)
IL6 IL5 3
IL5 IL4 3
IL4 IL3 3
IL3 IL2 Separate Criteria
IL2 IL1 Separate Criteria

IL6, IL5, IL4 are junior management positions. IL3 falls in middle management and IL2 in
senior management. IL1 positions are CXO level positions. As per our problem statement we
are focusing more on career mobility from IL6 to IL3 because 90% of the employees are
falling in this category.
Tata Steel Career Mobility includes promotions (to next level), transfers (within same level),
deputation to subsidiary companies, secondment to oversee subsidiaries.
Background

Most employees see a single growth pathway, in the form of promotion – to move up the
hierarchy (IL6 to IL3).
For Example – If there is a vacancy at IL4 level, such as, Sr. Manager Sales, then all
employees who have completed 3 years at IL5 level and all employees who have completed
2 years in an IL4 level are eligible for the position. Apart from tenure-based eligibility,
employee should have relevant qualifications and experience as well. For Sr. Manager Sales,
it is mandatory to have an MBA/PGDM degree or years of work experience in similar field.

Due to these criteria only a small percentage of employees get shortlisted for interviews. The
rest find it difficult to progress towards their career aspirations.

All perks, rewards and benefits are associated with vertical growth, i.e. when an officer gets
a promotion from one level to another. It includes salary hike, bonus, retirals etc. associated
with basic salary. Perks like Tata Executive Holiday Plan, Telecom, Mobile reimbursement,
Brokerage reimbursement, travel related reimbursement, TA/DA etc. are also associated with
impact levels. As you grow up in the hierarchy it keeps on increasing. No rewards and
benefits are associated with horizontal movements such as transfers at same level.
Society also acknowledges promotions over any other career move of an employee within
the organization.
Hence, it is demotivating for employees if they don’t get promotions even if they are eligible,
as it is based on no. of vacancies.

Problem Statement/Challenges Faced

There are many young, competent employees in the organization with dreams & aspirations
to grow and contribute to the organization, who may get demotivated if they are not offered
vertical growth as all rewards, recognition, perks and benefits are associated with vertical
growth. Hence, it is important to create alternate growth opportunities within the organization
which will give a sense of accomplishment to employees and at the same time create
development opportunities for them. It should cater to employee’s needs of accomplishment,
career development, getting rewarded monetarily. Because it will not only improve
employee’s engagement at work but will also curb attrition.

Critical Case Questions

1. Identify alternative avenues for career growth within the organization for employees
(IL3-IL6)?
2. How to cause change in the current system after identifying alternate ways of career
growth?
3. To build a step-wise strategy to implement the change considering all necessary and
sufficiency checks.
4. Identify state acknowledgement with non-vertical growth. How can we make it better?
• Here we must identify - with which roles, career movements and career personas,
recognition / rewards can be linked to. How can we find out ways for its successful
implementation?
• How can we make alternative career pathways more attractive?
5. To suggest which type of recognition/rewards should be linked to which type of role, career
persona, career movements, etc.