Asian Paints : Gaining competitive advantage through employee

“ENGAGE-MEANT”

Section C - Group 10

Problems:

● Lack of initiatives shown by junior levels to develop new skills

● Fatigue among the senior managers due to constantly changing team-mix
● Lack of infrastructure and resources
● Falling levels of emotional connection between the employees
● Lack of organisational rewards and recognition
● Lack of commitments towards customer relationships
● Lack of clarity in terms of career trajectory

Action Plan:

1. Meritocracy: ​In Asian paints, promotion for employees is provided on a meritorious

performance basis. It is an excellent way to appreciate and motivate the employees.
However, this system may leave out some of the employees who might be dedicated and
loyal to the company. Despite having years of experience, they might get refrained from
promotion due to this basis. Ultimately, this would result in developing bitterness towards
the organisation.
2. Giving Opportunities for development and growth: ​In Asian Paints employees of lower
order are lacking encouragement and guidance from the senior managers. This can be
improved by increase in the engagement and providing guidance which contributes to both
professional and personal growth of the employees.
3. Rewards and Recognition: ​The employees have mentioned that the rewards were less when
compared to the effort they have put in. So implementing a fair appraisal policy while giving
performance reviews helps in boosting the morale of the employees.
4. Infrastructure & resources :​ Employees working at the warehouses felt that the
infrastructure of their working place is much inferior to the head office. Some complained
about the inadequacy of resources offered to them. Since it is very essential to maintain the
quality of the infrastructure at a higher level in an organisation, the company should make
significant investments in improving the infrastructure of warehouses. Only when the
employees have access to proper infrastructure, they would be able to put in their best
efforts in achieving the company’s goals and targets. Hence, such divergence between head
office and warehouse should be sorted out on an immediate basis.
5. Creating an inclusive vision:​ By providing clarity regarding the job role and helping the
employees understand the purpose of their work. This creates a strong vision and improves
the loyalty of the employees towards the organisation.
6. On-the-job training: ​Employees can improve their existing knowledge through shadowing
and coaching of the senior employees in the particular domain of the work.This improves
the efficiency and results in less number of errors in the employee performance.
7. Reducing the changes in the team mix: ​As the senior managers are finding it difficult to
understand and nurture the newly-shifted employees. It is better to reduce the changing of
team members. This would reduce the falling level of emotional connection in the
organisation. Group outings can also increase the employee engagement.
8. Mentorship program:​ Senior Managers indicated that there is a lack of initiatives shown by
junior level employees in improving their skills and to push their boundaries. This can be
rectified by offering mentorship programs to the junior level employees. After the initial
training, each individual should be mapped to an experienced employee to transfer
knowledge to less experienced employees. This will help the recruits to move up in work,
skill level and performance. This will also provide them with exposure to deal with
customers.
9. Understanding the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Data: ​We can see that there is​ ​no proper
knowledge and understanding among the employees regarding the usage of AI method.
Also, an enormous amount of resources were invested in conducting the AI process. So, the
company should create a team to analyse and interpret the employee responses to devise
effective employee engagement policies. This helps the company to understand their
employees at the best.