Mridula Shah’s Corporate Journey Indotel is one among the pioneers that linked India with an incomparable mobile network Everyone has seen its success in the Indian telecom industry and became a key player reaching the peak as India's desired telecom service provider and keeping the record for years Indotel’s offerings developed as well, and new customers subscribed and continued till lifetime. They became much more than just a mobile operator — from broadband service, Direct-to Home (OTH) service, Digital Payments Bank & Indotel Business, among others. They have stretched their existence with Indotel Africa, making the entity into a profitable one today. Indotel believes in investing in its Human Capital in achieving their missions and visions. The organization shapes and strengthens its talent every year through fresh hires from the Campus. Key Objectives of Campus Hiring: Infusion of Millennial & Gen Z Talent with Digital and Agile mindset © Creating healthy mix of lateral hires & Freshers at junior levels * Adaptable workforce with a steeper learning curve ‘© Healthy bench-strength to prevent potential business loss due to attrition In the year 2015, the batch of 30 Management Trainees (MT) joined the Corporate Office at Mumbai. One of the MT was Mridula Shah, a fresher who held her MBA degree in Marketing and was awarded Dean's Medal for her outstanding grades in the college. She had worked as a Summer Intern at Indotel as part of her MBA internship. Mridula was rated as the Best Intern in her final review assessment and was offered a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) for the same. Mridula was extremely thrilled about the opportunity, as she had bagged her dream job. As soon a she joined the organization, she had to go through the Management Trainee Induction program for 6 months. She started with her induction program together with her other batchmates at their corporate office in Mumbai, Subsequently, they became a part of various live projects and shadowing (on-the job) training across locations. Upon the fruitful completion of her Induction program, Mridula was assigned her final appointment in marketing function in Delhi as her joining location. She met Sushila, her HR Buddy at the office. Sushila presented Mridula to Sam, her manager. Sam was working as Marketing Head had been working with the organization in the last 5 years, Sam prepared a team meeting in the afternoon and introduced Mridula to her other team members ~ Ashok, Sunil, Prasad, George & Vinay. Later on, Sam shared some reading material/decks with Mridula for her to know about the products and overall organization structure. The next day, Mridula went to Sam and asked enquiries after going through the reading material. Sam replied that he had been occupied with tasks and needed to attend a client meeting. Sam said that she could connect with Ashok, the senior most team member, for her queries. Mridula did not like Sam's response but said that she will reach out to Ashok. After some time, Mridula went to Ashok and said that she wanted to discuss some points and queries about the reading materials. ‘Ashok responded and said that he will connect with Mridula in the evening as he is busy in planning some marketing campaign. Mridula was wondering what her next steps should be now to resolve her queries. She thought of asking Vinay to go for a cup of coffee to the cafeteria. Vinay agreed and they went to the cafeteria and ordered 2 cups of coffee. Vinay told her that he joined the organization a year back after Page1l7 ‘hs documents prepredathe Grou proest by alte rua 34 menber (tacoend gh - PGPWE:EOZ Pris Kamar Moher PWEDE, Shioy sigh mesweinoa sont Singh PeDweiann hoc she SPMD0N acute te Po ugenie Peon, sn ceMridula Shah’s Corporate Journey completing his MBA from Amity Business School, Noida. Mridula asked about his working experience in the company. Vinay shared that the role is very challenging as he is managing significant projects. He has been able to learn a lot, but he admitted that most of the learning was done through self- learning with experiences that he had, as there is no handholding or knowledge transfer sessions done by team members. He said that Sam had told him during his first day of joining that he must learn on his own by working together with others. Mridula was surprised to hear Vinay's statements, as she was puzzling on how a fresher can learn on his own without any direction from the team. She started thinking on how to approach the issue, Many questions went into her mind: Should she speak to her HR buddy or directly with Sam? What if Sam got offended? With many thoughts occupying Mridula’s mind, she began to do some research on the company website about the products, structure, leadership team etc. The following day, Sam prearranged a team meeting and informed everyone about the upcoming marketing event to be prepared for their key client. He conveyed that timelines were very aggressive and shared an action plan with the defined roles and responsibilities of each team ‘members. He told that the projected is going to be led by Ashok. Mridula thought that Ashok would not be guiding anything as he had not met her yesterday as well despite saying that he would meet her in the evening Ashok gave Mridula & Vinay the task of getting in touch with some of the inactive clients who hhad done fewer businesses with them from the past 6 months, understand their reasons and invite them to be a part of the event, Mridula swiftly prepared a questionnaire for the event, She asked Vinay as to how can they get the necessary information about the reason why these clients started doing transactions with their competitors. Vinay said they can look at MIS data, They quickly ran through the data and found that these clients were availing competitor offerings and therefore their spending had been lessened. ‘This hypothesis got established through interacting with these clients. Mridula prepared the report Con the findings together with recommendations and shared it with Ashok. Ashok started challenging the findings and had not approved the proposed recommendations. He did not share the report with Sam and told them to focus on other tasks. The event was conducted as per the schedule and succeeded. ‘As months passed by, Mridula kept learning through on-the-job tasks. She utilized her analytical thinking and concepts she learned in her MBA course on the tasks and projects assigned to her. She started appreciating her work as she was gaining good exposure and by accomplishing her deliverables, After completing 1 year, Mridula was evaluated as High Performer and received her first salary Increment. She was very pleased on her achievements. Sam had been promoted as well and arranged a team dinner, During the dinner party, Ashok, after a few drinks, began to make fun of her in front of others and commented that corporate life is very easy for women as compared to men. Mridula did not like the comment and defied Ashok. Even before Ashok responded, Sam quickly changed the topic and started a different discussion on a client, On the next day, Mridula went to Sam and said that she did not understand Ashok’s comment. Sam responded her to take things lightly and not make an issue out of it as it accurs during informal meetings, She was not very convinced with Sam’s answer but thought of giving it a pass. Page 2|7 ‘Wieder piped ea prot alte ts 8 mente hoon Sh -EEWEEL, rth Kar ors A, Shioy sigh me-weibea sont Singh Perwesann hoc shine SPMD0N asus te Po ugente Peon, an ceMridula Shah’s Corporate Journey For the second time during her second year of performance, she was rated as an Exceptional Performer again and got promoted as @ Team Lead managing her colleague, Vinay. Both Ashok and Vinay did not like it and not even congratulated her when Sam mentioned about the news at the team meeting. Mridula was very surprised at Vinay's reaction as she thought that Vinay was a good friend of her. ‘Sam gave a new project to Mridula along with a well-defined project plan, Mridula called Vinay for the meeting to discuss about the project; however, he said that he is not feeling well and went home, Vinay came to office and met Mridula on the following day. Mridula conversed about the project plan and the methodology to be followed. Vinay nodded and went to his cubicle. Vinay had not completed the tasks when Mridula asked for an update the next day. Mridula told Vinay firmly that tasks should strictly be completed by tomorrow. Vinay shared his summary report which was not up to the mark when Mridula asked for an Update again. Vinay had not analysed all the particulars and the recommendations were very vague. When Mridula said that this is not as per the expectations, Vinay told Mridula to do it herself. Vinay was very rude in his behaviour and left the room. Mridula went to Sam and narrated the whole incident. Sam told Mridula that she had become a ‘Team Lead now and should handle these difficulties on her own. There is no spoon feeding which can be given to her on how to handle a team, Mridula completed the tasks and the project on her own. Vinay continued to ignore Mridula and often got into arguments with her. He also started spreading gossips about Mridula with his other colleagues Ashok and Prasad. Onetime, Sunil told Mridula that the entire team kept on discussing negative things about her and that she does not deserve to become a Team Lead. They also said that Sam has been very biased and gives unnecessary privileges to Mridula, Mridula chose to ignore these comments and sustained her focus on her deliverables. She tried to escape conflict with Vinay by doing the tasks alone and refrained from escalating the issues to Sam. After a few months, Mridula got married to a Software Engineer at Delhi. She went for her wedding leave of 15 days and quickly took a stock of the work upon returning. She noticed that lots of tasks were pending as Vinay had only partly completed them, Sam called for an urgent team meeting and said that Sunil and George have resigned. While George is relocating to Australia to pursue higher education, Sunil has found another opportunity in a start-up. He said that though he tried to have a conversation with Sunil to reconsider his decision to leave, but Sunil has already made up his mind as he is getting a bigger role and a 40% salary hike. Therefore, itis not possible to retain him. Sam told the team that until the time when replacements are hired, existing tear must take additional workload, Both Ashok and Mridula were given additional responsibilities. While Ashok had Prasad, who was a very diligent and collaborative team member, it was a very challenging task for Mridula as Vinay was not very supportive Page 317 ‘hs documents prepredte Grou proest by alte rua 24 menber (tacoend Sh - PGEWE:EOZ Pris Kamar Moher PWEDE, Shioy sigh me-weibea sont Singh Perwesann hoc shine SPMD0N asus te Po ugente Peon, an ceMridula Shah’s Corporate Journey Mridula had to put in long hours of working and had to stretch on weekends as well. Gradually, Mridula started getting criticism from her in-laws that she does not balance work and family life and is ignoring her household responsibilities Mridula felt that she was literally running in a long dark tunnel with no light at the end of the day. She started missing some of the deadlines; her productivity also started getting affected. She started losing her patience and got into constant arguments with Vinay and her other colleagues. (One day she shouted at Vinay who wrote a complaint to Sam regarding the issue, He complained that there is no direction from Mridula, she keeps the information only to herself, does not delegate and puts a constant pressure on him. She speaks very rudely and shouts in public. Vinay felt bad for this kind of disrespect towards him. (Please refer Exhibit 1) Sam informed about this incident to HR and arranged for a meeting with Mridula. Sam shared the details of the complaint to Mridula and asked her about an explanation. Mridula tried to explain that Vinay had not been doing his work and does not cooperate. Sam said that he was very surprised to hear about this, as Mridula had not reported this matter earlier to him. When Mridula recollected that she had shared this initially with him, Sam put it aside saying that it was only once and after that there was no escalation, and it had been almost a year now. He also told Mridula that her work deliverables were not achieved, and she needed to work on her improvement areas. Mridula nodded her head but felt very disappointed, After a few weeks, Mridula received her annual appraisal rating of Needs Improvement. She was very surprised to see the rating as she had achieved her overall deliverables. She decides to meet Sam and discuss her issue, (On the next day, she met Sam and asked about her rating. He told her that there had been lapses in her performance. He mentioned about Vinay's written complaint issue. Mridula said that this was a recent incident from the last 15 days and the performance review was done for the entire year. She had achieved her overall deliverables. Sam did not agree and said that recent incidents cannot be ignored. Sam said ~ “In fact, after seeing your today’s behaviour of approaching this issue, am clear that you need an improvement and should be put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).” He said that he will arrange for a meeting with HR on PIP conversation and will receive the communication from HR. (Please refer Exhibit 2) Mridula felt very disheartened and having thoughts of resigning from her service. She went home and told her husband about it and in response, asked her to discreetly find another job and quit. Mridula was called for a PIP discussion with Sam and Sushila. Sam shared the PIP document where he had stated areas of improvement. Mridula shared her disappointment and stated that her voice is not being heard. Sam had already made up his mind and is not ready to listen. Sushila asked Mrridula about her opinions. Mridula mentioned that Vinay has been very un-cooperative and does not listen to her as his Team Lead. She tried to raise it with Sam once, but he said she should handle team issues on her own. Sushila asked that why she did not raise this to HR, Mridula said that she was not sure if HR will be able to help her. Sam and Sushila tried convincing Mridula not to consider PIP as a negative thing and perceive it as a constructive tool to help her improve her performance. They ended the meeting after handing over the PIP document to Mridula, Page 4l7 ‘hs documents prepredte Grou proest by alte rua 24 menber (tacoend Sh - PGEWE:EOZ Pris Kamar Moher PWEDE, Shioy sigh me-weibea sont Singh Perwesann hoc shine SPMD0N asus te Po ugente Peon, an ceMridula Shah’s Corporate Journey Upon reaching the office on the following day, Sam called Mridula and told her that Vinay will now report to Ashok, and she would get a new team member when the incumbent has been hired. Mridula felt even more suffocated and that she was being targeted by Sam. When she reached her cubicle, she heard Ashok and Vinay making fun of her and saying that after all, Sam realized his mistake and made the necessary changes. They laughed away and left the place. Mridula had tears in her eyes and goes to the cafeteria. She sipped a cup of coffee and came back to her desk. Mridula started focussing on her work and spent long hours to complete her deliverables. After 3 months, she had cleared her PIP. During her final review on PIP, Sam told Mridula in front of Sushila that Mridula works great as an Individual contributor (IC) and not as a Team Lead. Hence, he had decided to put Mridula again in an IC role. Both Sam and Sushila congratulate Mridula for successfully completing her PIP but did not give any opportunity for Mridula to express her views and feelings. Gradually, Mridula became very demativated and started the feeling of being isolated. She tried to remain silent in team meetings and does not come up with any ideas, She started avoiding the team get-togethers. As a result, her performance started getting affected as she had lost her determination and willingness to complete her tasks. Sam noticed this change and reported the matter to the HR head, Mr. Salkat Banerjee. He said that Mridula had joined as a MT but her performance had deteriorated. He recommended that Mridula must be assigned a different role or assignment in a different tear. He also shared the PIP document and the written complaint of Vinay. Saikat analyzed the records of Mridula and found out that she was awarded as the Best Summer Intern & PPO during her internship. She had been rated High & Exceptional performer in her first 2 years but saw a downward trend in last 1 year. He asked for inputs from his team member Sushila Who validated same views as Sam, Saikat decided to meet Mridula the next day. Mridula came for the meeting and told Saikat that she does not want to continue in her role anymore as she had already got another opportunity and decided to move on. Saikat tried to get into conversation with her and said he wanted to understand the situation. Mridula said that she was ready to share the feedback, but she had decided to leave the organization and will not change her decision, Mridula shared the entire feedback with Saikat about her on boarding experience and uncooperative attitude of his team member. She shared that Sm was always busy and never available for any guidance or resolution of issues and queries that she was raising. Saikat tried to go through the exit interview forms of Sunil and George, and found similar feedback about Sar, He asked Sushila about the same, she said that she was busy and could not take their exit interviews. She tried to justify herself by criticising about Sunil and George and defended Sam. Page S|7 ‘hs documents prepredte Grou proest by alte rua 24 menber (tacoend Sh - PGEWE:EOZ Pris Kamar Moher PWEDE, Shioy sigh me-weibea sont Singh Perwesann hoc shine SPMD0N asus te Po ugente Peon, an ce