INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE PGP1 - Term 3 - AY 2012-13 Written analysis and communication

Report on: Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited Submitted to Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava In partial fulfilment of requirement of the WAC course

Submitted By: Loveesh Jaiswal M. Ajay Kumar Mihika Yadav Mrinal Thakur Nitesh Kumar Pradyoth C John

On 4th March 2013

Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava

Faculty for Written communication and Analysis, Indian Institute of Management Indore (Mumbai), Navi Mumbai 400614

Date : 4th March 2013

Dear Madam, In compliance with the fulfilment of requirement for WAC course, a student group was formed to submit a report on Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited. The members of the group have been listed on the cover page. The following pages contain our analysis of the case. We hope that this report will meet your approval.

Sincerely, Group -6 WAC course PGP 2012-2014 IIM Indore (Mumbai)

Contents

Introduction

. ..02

Problem

...05

Analysis .. ......08

Conclusion .. ..09

Recommendation

.10

Introduction:
Ramesh Patel was inducted into the New Horizon Board (NHB) which consisted of a group of high potential leaders who charted Aragon Entertainment Limiteds future directions. The group was considered as the centrepiece of innovation and creativity and Ramesh considered it a huge opportunity to make a positive impression on his seniors. Ramesh, Gibson and Maria Hernandez were assigned a new project under NHB. They were expected to analyze customer data on one of Aragons new products and do a competitive market analysis. They had to be prepared with their analysis and present it within 4 weeks at the monthly NHB meeting in front of their seniors. Being a friend of Gibson, Ramesh was excited to have him in the new project. Although he knew Gibson well, he had never worked with him on any project before. The group divided the work among themselves according to their competencies. Ramesh and Maria worked on the project and were prepared with their share of work before the weekly two hour meetings. Gibson on the other hand used to turn up late for the meetings, was unprepared and once did not attend the meeting, giving the reason that he had to work on other projects with pressing deadlines. As a result of this Ramesh was feeling more and more discontent and anger.

Problem:
The friendship between Jeremy and Ramesh is causing mismatch of expectations which is acting as an impediment to the teams functioning. Thus coming in the way of Patels ambition to perform well and gain recognition.

Analysis:
Rameshs point of view Initially Ramesh was excited after finding out that Gibson would be working with him on the NHB project. Ramesh expected Gibson to work diligently and use his expertise as an engineer to provide useful analysis. But Gibsons lack of contribution to the project first perturbed Ramesh and later made him very uneasy and annoyed. Ramesh desperately wanted to make his mark in the organization with the NHB project and wanted to get recognition from seniors. Ramesh assumed that doing well in the project would definitely bring him in the limelight. Since Ramesh and Jeremy were friends, having attended the same orientation and training session, Rameshs expectation from Jeremy were high. Initially Ramesh was little complacent towards Jeremy, for example after the first meeting when Jeremy did not come prepared, Ramesh figured that Gibson would come extra prepared the next time and did not take the matter seriously. He

knew that Gibson had other pressing deadlines but assumed that it was the main reason for Gibson not contributing to the team. Ramesh also assumed that Gibson would be equally motivated to perform well and shine in the NHB project. Ramesh and Maria too had other full-time work but they took time out to work on the NHB project and expected the same from Gibson. Thus Gibsons inaction created more anger in Ramesh. Gibsons point of view Gibson, a quality control engineer was inducted into the NHB along with his friend Ramesh and another colleague Maria Hernandez. Gibson was happy to be on the NHB but had other full-time projects with stringent deadlines. Gibson believed that the NHB project was in better condition than his other projects and thus was focussed on other projects more. Also Gibson knew Ramesh personally and assumed that Ramesh would understand his situation and cover for him. He had confidence in Ramesh and felt that even if he was not able to provide much contribution to the project, Ramesh would help steer the project appropriately. He could not see the conflict that his attitude was creating between him and Ramesh. Rameshs ambition to outshine in the project was getting hampered because of Gibsons low contribution and effort towards the project. Gibson on the other hand felt that he would be able to provide some contribution in the final meeting and the remaining analysis done by Ramesh and Maria would see the project through. Ramesh expected Gibson to work hard on the project whereas Gibson felt that Ramesh understood his predicament and would cover for him. Following SWOT analysis provides further insights and analysis of the situation.

Strengths: Friendship Ramesh was comfortable working with Jeremy and had confidence in his abilities Expertise in their fields High performers

Weakness : Friendship increased expectation & difficulty in confrontation No prior experience of working together thus were not aware of each other working style Lack of proper communication Rameshs desperation to perform well in NHB and impress seniors

Opportunities : Gain recognition Develop good working relationship and an effective team for future projects Successful product

Threats : Project failure Relationship failure Gibson could overshadow Ramesh during presentation

In order to resolve the current crisis in the project team and complete the deliverables on time Ramesh Patel has the following alternative courses of action which are analysed below. Alternative 1: Talk it out with Jeremy in a polite yet firm manner Patel can consider discussing the complete issue with Gibson officially in a polite manner. This would ensure that their personal relationship is not spoilt by the exiting tension between them. Also this would help Gibson in openly communicating his problems to Patel as to why he is unable to contribute to the project. On the other hand it may happen that a polite approach may prove to be ineffective as it would fail to impress upon Gibson the criticality of the situation. Also Gibson might still ignore Patels suggestions and end up not contributing to the team.

Alternative 2: Confrontation The advantage of employing this approach is it may lead Gibson to immediately take the appropriate action and put more efforts on his task. But this approach has the risk of spoiling their personal relationship. Also Gibson may become defensive during the discussion and hence not talk about his real problems which would increase the communication gap even more. Also this may lead to a situation where Gibson out rightly refuses to work for the team.

Alternative 3: Involve Maria A. Ramesh and Maria both approaching Gibson This alternative will bring in the opinion of a neutral person i.e. Maria, which would impress upon Gibson the seriousness of the situation. This would be a more professional way of handling the situation and would minimise the chances of spoiling their personal

relationship. On the other hand it would give an impression to Gibson that his team mates are ganging up against him. On a more elementary level Maria may not share Patels point of view at all and it might be difficult to convince Maria to approach Gibson. B. Maria should separately talk to Gibson A possible advantage of this approach would be that Gibson is more responsive to Maria and they might come up with a solution. But involving a third person in this case might portray Patel as a manipulative figure.

Alternative 4: Meet Gibson outside office casually and talk it out The unofficial nature of this meeting would result in the two individuals shedding their inhibitions and having an open communication. This would possibly bridge the communication gap between the two. Both would openly express their expectations from each other and come up with a solution without hampering their friendship. On the flip side Gibson may not like to discuss this issue unofficially and hence refuse to go for the meeting. Also both Ramesh and Gibson might not have the time to spare for this meeting. Also another issue would be taking this official matter to a personal level could result in things getting out of hand.