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Springer Business Cases
Gopal P. Mahapatra Editor
Business Cases
in Organisation
Behaviour and HRM
Perspectives from India
Editorial Boards
Mehtap Aldogan Eklund, Department of CBA—Accountancy, University of
Wisconsin–La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
Karuna Jain, Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, Mumbai, India
Dilip S. Mutum , School of Business, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya,
Malaysia
Henry Shi, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics, University of Adelaide,
Adelaide, Australia
Marianna Sigala, Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus,
Athens, Greece
Springer Business Cases is a book series featuring the latest case studies in all
areas of business, management, and finance, from around the world. The well-
curated case collections in each of the books represent insights and lessons that can
be used both in the classroom as well as in professional contexts. The books also
place a focus on regional and topical diversity as well as encouraging alternative
viewpoints which bring the knowledge forward. Both teaching cases as well as
research cases are welcome.
Gopal P. Mahapatra
Editor
Business Cases
in Organisation Behaviour
and HRM
Perspectives from India
Editor
Gopal P. Mahapatra
Faculty of Organizational Behavior
and Human Resources Management
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore (IIMB)
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
ISSN 2662-5431 ISSN 2662-544X (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-99-2030-3 ISBN 978-981-99-2031-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2031-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
In memory of
late Prof. K. B. Akhilesh
Preface
The professional world is changing rapidly. With globalization and the pace
of technological advancement, the world is changing into a Volatile, Uncertain,
Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment, more so for businesses. In this
challenging context, leaders and HR professionals must adopt new strategies to
navigate and foster business growth, success, and sustainability.
In the last decade, India has seen increasing significance given to leadership
and human resources management for the growth and sustenance of business and
social organizations. The approaches followed by the leaders have proven success-
ful, particularly in the fields of people management, employee engagement, change
management, entrepreneurship, and the like. In this context, the editor invited
leading academicians and a few practitioners in organization behavior (OB), lead-
ership, and human resource management (HRM) to submit business cases and
teaching notes. We aim to facilitate learning and development through these cases
on employee engagement, training and development, mergers and acquisitions,
leading virtual teams, career management leveraging technology, and the broader
areas of people management.
All authors have carefully selected and highlighted cases of significance along
with relevant teaching notes. This is likely to be quite valuable to academicians
in B-schools in India and abroad; not to mention M.B.A. students, undergraduate
students, leaders and HR professionals, practice owners, and consultants, who want
to leverage these cases for leadership development, solving business problems as
well as getting new insights into current people management issues.
It has been a phenomenal learning experience for me, both as a contributing
author and the editor of this particular OB and HRM case volume. I sincerely
hope readers from various strata benefit from using this volume.
I hope this book will contribute to teachers, professionals, and manage-
ment graduates in B-schools. The teaching notes can benefit academicians who
want to supplement their expertise without additional reference objectives and
methodologies shared by the authors of the cases in the teaching notes.
vii
viii Preface
We will very much appreciate the comments and suggestions of the readers and
users of this volume and wish a great learning experience to the readers!
Gopal P. Mahapatra
Bangalore (IIMB)
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the help of many notable people.
I cannot list them all here, but would like to thank the Late Prof. K. B. Akhilesh,
the erstwhile Dean of Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and my well-wisher
who had taken the initiative of this mega project1 from India. He seriously con-
ceptualized and envisioned creating and compiling a series of business cases in
India’s context: the emerging economy. I am grateful to him for having entrusted
me to edit the Organisation Behaviour and Human Resources Management (OB
and HRM) case and teaching note volume published by Springer. I dedicate this
volume to his memory!
I must acknowledge the subsequent anchoring and moderation by Prof.
Parameshwar Iyer, Distinguished Scientist and Professor of IISc. He took on the
baton, arranged a series of meetings with the potential guest editors of subjects,
and encouraged me to seek diverse cases from leading academicians. Thanks to
him for his unwavering encouragement and valuable support.
I am grateful to Ms. Nupoor Singh, Senior Editor, Springer, who took a personal
interest in pursuing this idea. She inspired me to pursue the case and teaching note
collection from diverse authors when I was preoccupied with a busy teaching term.
In addition, she periodically reviewed the status update on the cases jointly with
me, including required follow-up with the authors, and collaborated with Springer
Nature Books Production. To sustain motivation, she even arranged a meeting with
her Editorial Director to communicate how important the book was for Springer.
I want to thank Mrs. Ramya Somasundaram, Project Coordinator, Books
Production, Springer Nature, for following up with the authors for necessary
updates and corrections, and her production team in Springer for undertaking the
essential copywriting production and editing tasks to complete this book.
I want to thank my Research Associate at IIMB, Ms. Inika, a bright post-
graduate from King’s College, London, who provided her valuable support during
the initial phases—preliminary review of manuscript, comments, and editing,
which was very helpful as we began with the case writing and teaching notes.
1 The original project was a compilation of case studies in almost all management study areas under
the Chief Editorship of Prof. Akhilesh. After his sad demise the project has to be dismantled and
this book, which was a section in that megaproject, came into being.
ix
x Acknowledgments
I also want to thank Ms. Amruta Londhe, my erstwhile Research Associate at

IIMB, for her assistance at the beginning of this book project.
I am grateful to my family for tolerating the time and engagement that I had to
devote to this project over the last 3 years.
Finally, I need to thank my esteemed contributors for their cases and teaching
notes. They have not only taken the initiative of writing the cases and teaching
notes on varied themes in the OB and HRM area in the Indian social and business
context but have also shown a lot of patience and perseverance with this project, as
it has taken multiple iterations and taken time beyond their normal expectations.
Thanks a lot, indeed!
Gopal P. Mahapatra
Bangalore (IIMB)
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Gopal P. Mahapatra
Growth and Transformation of Gujarat Gas Limited—An OD
and HRD Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Gopal P. Mahapatra and Nidhi Vashishth
PRADAN: A Journey of Continuing Relevance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Smita Mohanty and Ajaya K. Samal
Plantation of Hope: The Turnaround of Harissons
Malayalam Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Manoranjan Dhal and Surya Prakash Pati
Can Collaboration Thrive in a Virtual Environment?—An Enigma! . . . . 87
Amit Gupta and Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra
Engaging Virtual Teams in Uncertain Times: A Business Case
on Cyient Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Upam Pushpak Makhecha and Farheen Fathima Shaik
Paradeep Phosphates Limited’s Story of Inclusive Growth
and Harmony: A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Mousumi Padhi
Start-Up to Scale-Up: The Changing Entrepreneurs’ Competencies . . . . 157
Padmaja Palekar, Gopal P. Mahapatra, and Parag Patankar
Luminous Power—The ROI of the General Management Program . . . . . 173
Debolina Dutta and Tilak Raj Kapoor
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, India: Employee Engagement
Initiatives on the Journey to the Deming Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Pragnya Acharya and Lalatendu Kesari Jena
Leave Bank—A Unique Social Security Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Sanjeev Shantkumar Doshi and Upasna A. Agarwal
xi
xii Contents
Using Online Learning to Develop Pandemic Readiness: The Case

of Deoleo in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Rama Shankar Yadav, Sanket Sunand Dash, Siladitya Sarangi,
and Ankur Jain
The Being and Becoming of a Leader in STEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Sadhna Dash and Snigdha Pattnaik
Editor and Contributors
About the Editor
Gopal P. Mahapatra is a Professor of Practice (OB and HRM area) at Indian Insti-
tute of Management (IIM) Bangalore. He is a Fellow from IIMB and comes with
more than 30 years of HR leadership roles in MNCs and Indian conglomerates. He
has been Programme Director and faculty member in Advanced Management Pro-
gramme, and many other Executive Education Programmes at IIMB, in addition
to serving as Chairperson Weekend M.B.A. Prior to this, he served at IIM Indore,
and is also visiting faculty at IIM Kolkata and IIM Udaipur. Professor Mahapatra
was President, National HRD (NHRD) Network Bangalore 2006–2008, which is
an autonomous, not-for-profit, professionally managed organization of HR pro-
fessionals. He has co-edited three books between 2002 and 2006, and edited
two special issues of NHRD Network Journal on Organisation Development in
2008 and Neuro-Science and HR in 2018, in addition to having many papers in
international and national journals to his credit.
Contributors
Pragnya Acharya School of Human Resource Management, XIM University,

Bhubaneswar, India
Upasna A. Agarwal Indian Institute of Management Mumbai, Mumbai, India
Sadhna Dash Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bangalore, Bangalore, India
Sanket Sunand Dash Assistant Professor in HRM and OB Area at Indian Insti-
tute of Management Rohtak, Rohtak, India
Manoranjan Dhal Professor, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource
Management, Center for Employment Relations and Labour Studies, Indian
Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Sanjeev Shantkumar Doshi Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF),
Mumbai, India
xiii
xiv Editor and Contributors
Debolina Dutta Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore, India

Amit Gupta Indian Oil Corporation Limited, New Delhi, India
Ankur Jain Assistant Professor in HRM and OB Area at Indian Institute of
Management Rohtak, Rohtak, India
Lalatendu Kesari Jena School of Human Resource Management, XIM Univer-
sity, Bhubaneswar, India
Tilak Raj Kapoor DS Group, New Delhi, India
Gopal P. Mahapatra Faculty of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
Management, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), Bengaluru,
Karnataka, India
Upam Pushpak Makhecha Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli,
India
Smita Mohanty Ghaziabad, UP, India
Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra Indian Oil Corporation Limited, New Delhi, India
Mousumi Padhi School of Human Resource Management, XIM University,
Bhubaneswar, India
Padmaja Palekar Faculty of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
Management, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), Bengaluru,
Karnataka, India
Parag Patankar Fintech Entrepreneur, and IIM, Ahmedabad, India
Surya Prakash Pati Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour and Human
Resource Management, Center for Employment Relations and Labour Studies,
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Snigdha Pattnaik Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar, India
Ajaya K. Samal Noida, UP, India
Siladitya Sarangi Country Manager, Deoleo, Mumbai, India
Farheen Fathima Shaik Assistant Professor (Human Resource Management),
XLRI - Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
Nidhi Vashishth Director in Charge-Fellow programs, Academy of HRD,
Ahmedabad, India
Rama Shankar Yadav Assistant Professor in HRM and OB Area at Indian
Institute of Management Rohtak, Rohtak, India
Introduction
Gopal P. Mahapatra
1 The VUCA Context
The world has been experiencing more disruptions and technological changes
than ever before. Although recent reflections on industry-wide disturbances may
emphasize the pandemic-related and post-pandemic differences in working and the
workplace, rapid change and disruption have increased over the past two decades.
In fact, in 2012, a BCG study found that half of the most turbulent financial quar-
ters in the previous 30 years had occurred post-2004 (Sullivan, 2012). These rapid
changes arise from all avenues, including digitization, technological advancements,
population growth, political unrest, economic instability, national disasters, and
cultural shifts, exacerbated after Fourth Industrial Revolution. This new business
environment is frequently summarized using the acronym VUCA, which describes
its Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous nature.
On an organizational level, VUCA can result in business complexity, rolling
markets, changing competition, financial instability, and leadership challenges. On
a personal level, it may reduce feelings of control and self-efficacy and increase
stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidality (Doheny et al., 2012; Luthans & Broad,
2022). With VUCA, the revolution to Industry 5.0 is characterized by human
and robotic systems focused on sustainable development (Akkaya & Ahmed,
2022). In this scenario, the responsibility is on organizational leadership and HR
professionals across levels to protect company interest and employee well-being.
Too often, VUCA is treated as synonymous with uncertainty to act as a crutch
rather than a concept (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014a, 2014b). It is frequently used
to justify failure due to insufficient foresight or adequate preparation. However,
G. P. Mahapatra (B)
Faculty of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management,
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
e-mail: gopal.mahapatra@iimb.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 1
G. P. Mahapatra (ed.), Business Cases in Organisation Behaviour and HRM,
Springer Business Cases, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2031-0_1
2 G. P. Mahapatra
VUCA is a critical framework for understanding and appropriately addressing

challenges. According to Bennett and Lemoine (2014b), VUCA can be a guide-
line for four distinct characteristics present in modern business challenges in
isolation or combination. Volatility describes instability and unexpectedness of
unknown duration and can be addressed through agility or building organiza-
tional slack and resources. Uncertainty is for situations where the mechanisms
of cause and effect could be more explicit; this can be addressed through invest-
ing in information-gathering. Complexity involves the presence and overwhelming
volume of interconnected parts and variables, typically requiring restructuring and
specialist experts’ involvement. Finally, ambiguity arises in the face of “unknown
unknowns” where experimentation may be used to understand the situation further.
Complexity management strategies can also be applied directly to VUCA. As
VUCA and complexity increase, leaders must embrace flux rather than resisting
change; organizations can create a culture of learning, open-mindedness, and col-
laboration (Hanson, 2007). Complexity and response have a recursive relationship
(Maylor & Turner, 2017). There is no scope for complacency—constant innovation
and anticipation of trends are necessary. However, Hanson (2007) does concede
that there are significant challenges related to multicultural/global/virtual settings,
human skills/attitudes/capacities, collaboration, and related to industry/company.
It is suggested that businesses require flexibility to adapt to VUCA; this requires
flexible leadership with foresight, self-awareness, openness, knowledge, commu-
nication skills, and learning aptitude (Lawrence, 2013). Johansen (2007) further
describes the skills and abilities needed to manage VUCA as VUCA Prime,
namely, Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility. Factors for business success
include sound/fundamental business practices, innovation, fast responses, flexibil-
ity, change management, diversity management, market intelligence, and strong
collaboration (Sarkar, 2016). Leadership exemplifies how an organization can
respond to such an environment. VUCA thus requires CEOs to act in a fast,
focused, and flexible way, summarized through the theory of “Leadership Agility”.
Leadership agility can be evolved through training to improve focus on effec-
tive communication and engagement with diverse teams, risk-taking, independent
thinking, and modeling of collaboration (Pasmore et al., 2010). Studies suggest that
management innovation to address these changes should emphasize innovation,
strategic vision, proactivity, creativity, customer focus and involvement, openness
to learning, and context-dependent measures (Millar et al., 2018).
These new leadership requirements must be reflected in management educa-
tion and teaching pedagogy. Although it is understood that agility, self-awareness,
comfort with ambiguity, and strategic thinking are essential to new-age leadership,
previous training practices need to catch up (Lawrence, 2013). Hall and Row-
land (2016) found that while VUCA and agile management are accepted, with
attempts to integrate this in management coaching, a review of UK MBA programs
evidenced general dissatisfaction with programs with only a few curricula support-
ing agile leaders. Organizational-level solutions may involve hiring and retaining
employees with agility and learning and developing agility through scenario plan-
ning or simulations (Lawrence, 2013). To this end, the cases in this volume support
Introduction 3
the development of leadership agility and progressive people management function

in academia and practice.
2 India—An Emerging Economy
India has been considered a significant economy since the emergence of BRICS.
A recent marker of India’s economic growth was when the economy surged past
its former colonizer, the UK, to become the fifth biggest economy in the world
(Aldrick & Goodman, 2022). As noted by Aldrick and Goodman (2022) recently,
the Indian economy was forecasted to grow by more than 7%. After a rebound
in Indian stocks, India is now second after China in the MSCI Emerging Markets
Index. An article published by Morgan Stanley (2022) further stated that as the
world’s fastest growing economy, India is on track to becoming the world’s third-
largest economy by 2027, expecting to surpass Japan and Germany and have the
third-largest stock market by 2030.
This growth can be attributed to global trends and investment choices; notably,
as global labor markets tighten, significant offshoring—factory and labor—has
been and is expected to be diverted to India. Similarly, it is expected that more
Indian nationals will work foreign jobs from within India (Morgan Stanley, 2022).
This is supplemented by early Indian uptake of digitization, a shift in Indian
income distributions, and upgrades in energy distribution; all of which promote
investment in the country.
It is worth noting that global power entails more than economic growth. As
Hopewell (2015) argued, India’s global power was also driven by its mobilization
and leadership of developing country coalitions and alliances, which in the past
may have allowed them to exercise influence considered above their economic
weight. As India and China slowly rebuild cultural and economic bridges and their
complementary strengths, this can benefit the more prominent global economy
(Khanna, 2007). What is also clear is that the kinds of organizations which flourish
in the two countries are very different from each other and the rest of the world
(Khanna, 2007).
Given India’s global standing, politically and economically, and the understand-
ing of the unique business environment, organizations also need to emphasize the
strategies required for success within the Indian context. It involves learning about
the Indian business environment and emulating leadership and people management
practices conducted by successful Indian companies rather than solely emulating
and applying strategies from the Western market. Moreover, learnings from India
may also be applied elsewhere, where relevant.
4 G. P. Mahapatra
3 Case Methodology for Management Education

and Development
Case method is a pedagogical tool of active teaching which involves describing an

actual situation or event presented as a self-contained story to learn from both as
an example and through post-story reflection via questions, exercises, or games. In
a more modern business setting, the case method of teaching is characterized by
realistic managerial scenarios in which a difficult decision is being faced, taught
through active instructor-guided teaching with a focus on discussion-based learn-
ing (Razali & Zainal, 2013). Participants must make decisions and take action
despite adversity, such as incomplete information, time constraints, and conflict-
ing goals (Afsouran et al., 2018). The introspective discussion-based environment
allows participants to think more deeply and share their opinions and previous
experiences freely while being open to feedback (Afsouran et al., 2018). Case
method teaching allows students to experience challenging and complex manage-
rial situations in a safe and supportive environment, so they can be prepared to face
the same in the real world. Case methods are primarily used in business manage-
ment education and executive training during MBA or higher education, but they
are also used during organizational training, continued learning, and management
development.
Case methodology in management education allows participants to gain more
practical knowledge, deep understanding, and powerful insights (compared to just
reading to learn), through an engaging and interesting avenue. The potential ben-
efits of case methods include the development of diagnostic skills, subject and
functional integration, deep learning, student-involved and motivated learning,
effective use of class time, development of team learning, group discussion pro-
cess, the repeatable nature of cases, and the ability to review policy and practice
if done in organizations (Rees & Porter, 2002). Although benefits are numerous,
cases must also be used optimally to be practical teaching tools. Rees and Porter
(2002) identified cases to be most effective when they have valid and specific learn-
ing outcomes when used before the theory is taught, when cases are combined to
progress in complexity, and when students are reassured of the importance of the
method (to prevent resistance).
As early as 1994, there was already apparent resistance in Europe and Asia
when using American business cases—due to cases not fitting the economic con-
text and the teaching methods not fitting the cultural context (Saner & Yiu, 1994).
Since then, universities and colleges worldwide have begun contributing cases
based on their experiences and settings. Even so, there is still a skew toward
American cases, with developing nations having a noticeable lack of compara-
ble cases. Even with global cases in mind, there is a gap in cases that focus
on the new VUCA setting and the agile management required to overcome this.
This book includes Indian cases on leadership, change management, and people
management cases set in MNCs, Indian conglomerates, or start-ups, emphasiz-
ing situations arising from VUCA to allow readers to gain practical knowledge
relevant to this context.
Introduction 5
4 This Book—Purpose and Topics of Interest
The current collection includes 12 handpicked cases and teaching notes on the var-
ious critical dimensions of OB and HRM, written by invitation, by Indian authors
who are leading academics and practitioners. The primary purpose of this collec-
tion is to capture the unique circumstances, contextual thinking, analytic methods,
decision-making processes, and innovative solutions used in OB and HRM in
MNCs and Indian business and non-profit organizations.
With a slight emphasis on the pandemic, a few cases cover the unique business
challenges and situations arising from COVID-19. The themes covered include
organizational transformation, organizational culture, and development, organi-
zational innovation, corporate social responsibility, competencies for enhancing
entrepreneurship, employee engagement, leading virtual teams, career manage-
ment, training and development, and women leadership.
5 Who is This Book For
This book is intended to be used by people in business, students, practitioners,

and academicians, both in a global setting and for a more nuanced examination
of OB and HRM in the Indian business context. Postgraduate students in man-
agement and organization professionals will benefit by critically examining recent
industry changes and reflecting on how Indian leaders and organizations can adapt
operations during these times. On the other hand, academics can use this book
to highlight the critical concepts and dimensions of change, leadership, people
management, and innovation.
6 How the Book is Organized
The book is organized chapter-wise, with each chapter including a new case and
the relevant teaching note at the end of the chapter as an Appendix (which may
include questions for discussion, teaching plans, elaboration of concepts, and addi-
tional resources). The cases are ordered to go from more macro-perspective cases
that may have broader applicability for management education to cases centered
around more specific situations or topics that may not be as relevant for all read-
ers. Nonetheless, concepts and types of complexity mentioned in every case can
be helpful for all readers in non-business organizations due to the transferability
of the discussions and learning.
The topics covered in the 12 cases are ordered as follows:
– Growth and transformation of Gujarat Gas Ltd.—an OD and HRD perspec-

tive: The growth and transformation of a large Indian organization through the
decades have been elucidated from an OD and HRM perspective. The reader
6 G. P. Mahapatra
can understand how HRM systems and processes can be developed for a grow-
ing organization and how to change balance can be effectively implemented in
M&A situations.
– PRADAN: A Journey of Continuing Relevance: An NGO’s journey and chal-
lenges in staying relevant, from inception to the current day. Through this case,
readers can learn about the challenges faced during a company’s growth and
how they can be proactively anticipated to maintain relevance even in turbulent
times.
– Plantation of Hope: The Turnaround of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd.: This
case examines the role and importance of having a good work culture through
the lens of a legacy organization. This case supports readers in questioning
the HRM practices that are sometimes taken for granted, allowing for critical
thinking to improve employee experience and organizational culture.
– Can collaboration thrive in a virtual environment?—An enigma!: A dis-
cussion of company collaboration in a virtual environment. This case enables
readers to creative solutions and out-of-box thinking by focusing on the
example of virtual collaboration during the pandemic.
– Engaging Virtual Teams in Uncertain Times: A Business Case on Cyient
Ltd.: Adaptation and progress in engaging virtual teams during uncertain times.
Readers can get a flavor of the work it takes to adapt in turbulent and uncertain
times and can reflect on the organizational attributes that remain integral during
these times.
– Paradeep Phosphates Limited’s Story of Inclusive Growth and Harmony:
This case study exemplifies inclusive growth methods to allow for a robust
union-management relationship, increased transparency, and improved commu-
nication. This case supports readers in developing the skills to promote inclusive
growth and frictionless collaboration, a cornerstone of modern business.
– Start-up to Scale-up—The Changing Entrepreneur’s Competencies: This
case illustrates a powerful example of the changing entrepreneur competencies
when scaling up from a Start-up to a meaningful, transparent, and customer-
centric business. Readers can see how company prerogatives and emphasis
should shift as they scale up.
– The ROI of General Management Program: A demonstration of the role of
a general management program in addressing workforce capability gaps. The
reader can learn the importance of effective learning and development programs
for employees and budding leaders and reflect on these programs’ content and
mode.
– Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, India: Employee Engagement Initia-
tives on the Journey to the Deming Award: How employee engagement
initiatives can be used to promote positive competency development. This case
demonstrated employees’ role in company initiatives and taught readers how
skills/competencies could be harnessed to facilitate growth.
– Leave Bank—A Unique Social Security Concept: Showing the use of a leave
bank for employees through the times. Readers can be inspired by company
Introduction 7
initiatives to support their employees with empathy and can debate policies that
can boost morale and receive organization-wide support.
– Using online learning to develop pandemic readiness: The case of Deoleo in
India: This case describes the process of developing pandemic readiness and
adapting to business restrictions. With the example of digitization, readers can
see the challenges of adapting to new technology and discuss the methods to
facilitate the same.
– On Leadership in STEM Professions: The journey of a woman leader in
STEM. This personal case can support readers in considering still-present gen-
der inequalities and how one can ensure a sustainable and prosperous leadership
career despite the difficulties faced.
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8 G. P. Mahapatra
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Gopal P. Mahapatra is a Professor of Practice (OB & HRM area) at Indian Institute of Manage-
ment (IIM) Bangalore. He is a Fellow (Doctoral Programme) from IIMB and comes with more
than thirty years of HR leadership roles in MNCs and Indian conglomerates. He has been Pro-
gramme Director and faculty member in Advanced Management Programme, and many other
Executive Education Programmes at IIMB, in addition to serving as Chairperson Weekend MBA.
Prior to this, he served at IIM Indore, and is also visiting faculty at IIM Kolkata and IIM Udaipur.
Prof. Mahapatra was President, National HRD (NHRD) Network Bangalore 2006–08, which is
an autonomous, not-for-profit, professionally managed organization of HR professionals. He has
co-edited three books between, and edited two special issue of NHRD Network Journal on ‘Organ-
isation Development’ in 2008 and ‘Neuro-Science and HR’ in 2018, in addition to having many
papers and cases in international and national journals to his credit.
Growth and Transformation
of Gujarat Gas Limited—An OD
and HRD Perspective
Gopal P. Mahapatra and Nidhi Vashishth
1 Introduction
February 1, 2021 was not another routine Monday for Peeush Upadhyay, Executive
Director—HR and Admin. of Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL), Ahmedabad, India. A
reputed external institution recognized GGL’s focused management efforts for the
growth and transformation of the business, while keeping employees at the core
of every decision. GGL got nominated for the prestigious Business Excellence
Award. There has been excitement at GGL corporate office, and preparation for
the evaluation for the award has commenced.
Sanjeev Kumar IAS, a top civil servant and the Managing Director of GGL,
reviewed the presentation for a meeting with the Awards Committee. He was
briefed by Upadhyay to highlight core HRD practices as a strength and to project
unique HRD/OD interventions that had fostered GGL’s success in an increasingly
competitive environment.
GGL’s growth and success journey has been inspiring, as it has remained prof-
itable for the past decade, despite several mergers/acquisitions (M&A) and having
undergone significant structural changes. The HR team of the company has played
a significant role in ensuring the effectiveness of M&A execution at all phases.
However, at the time of the REVERSE privatization of e-GGCL (Gujarat Gas
Company Limited) with the public sector organization Gujarat State Petroleum
Corporation (GSPC) Gas (GSPC Gas), as Head of the HR Department, Upadhyay
G. P. Mahapatra (B)
Faculty of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management,
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
e-mail: gopal.mahapatra@iimb.ac.in
N. Vashishth
Director in Charge-Fellow programs, Academy of HRD, Ahmedabad, India
e-mail: nidhivashishth10@gmail.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 9
G. P. Mahapatra (ed.), Business Cases in Organisation Behaviour and HRM,
Springer Business Cases, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2031-0_2
10 G. P. Mahapatra and N. Vashishth
had to address several challenges. Reminiscing about this, he retrospected, “What

is it that Gujarat Gas Limited Management could have done differently throughout
various phases to ensure business continuity, strengthen culture, enhance growth,
and leverage the company’s potential as a pioneer in natural gas distribution? How
could the opportunities and challenges be best presented before the committee?”.
The day of the meeting with the Awards Committee finally arrived. The Busi-
ness Excellence Awards evaluation committee was in contact with the GGL office.
Upadhyay was looking forward to meeting the Awards Committee to represent
GGL and share his experience working at India’s largest city gas distribution com-
pany. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Subrata, the Business Editor of a
leading Journal, asked, “From a Mafatlal group company to a multinational com-
pany and now a public sector organization, in your opinion, how did GGL make
it this far?”.
Upadhyay replied, “It is the rich culture, HR practices, OD initiatives, commit-
ment towards CSR, and a sharp business focus that has kept Gujarat Gas a steady
company to look for and a great organization to work.” Then, he shared the evolu-
tion of GGL in chronological order recounting the origin and growth story of the
organization.
Upadhyay and the team reflected on the role of the HR department in the orga-
nization’s growth over the years. He also reviewed his GGL journey as a senior
HR department member.
2 Company History
2.1 Birth of GGCL (Now GGL)
India started attracting investments from across the globe due to the new economic
reforms in 1991 due to the government’s efforts and policies for globalization,
liberalization, and privatization, which aimed at making India one of the top
economies in the world. During the 1960s–90s, Gujarat state established itself
as a leader in various industrial sectors, including textiles, engineering, chemi-
cals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dairy, cement, ceramics, gems, and jewelry;
proving itself to have a business-friendly atmosphere. At that time, the distribu-
tion of natural gas was an arduous task, and ONGC, the first formally traded oil
and natural gas company, supported the Government of Gujarat’s Gujarat Industrial
Investment Corporation (GIIC) to provide natural gas to industrial and commercial
units in 1980.
In 1989, when natural gas was found in abundance near the gas field areas of
Ankleshwar and Surat, the government harnessed available resources by encourag-
ing corporates to form partnerships. At that time, Hrishikesh Mafatlal (Chairman,
Arvind Mafatlal Group), a leading Indian conglomerate, sponsored Gujarat Gas
Company Limited (GGCL), an associate sector company with an initial invest-
ment of 4 Crores Indian Rupees in 1990 (approx. $16,11,610). Of its shares, 35%
were with GGCL, 15% with GIIC, and the rest with the public. Initially, it started
Growth and Transformation of Gujarat Gas Limited—An OD and HRD … 11
natural gas distribution for piped natural gas, which was still a novel practice in
Indian industrial cities.
Upadhyay described, “GGCL was registered as a joint venture (JV) gas com-
pany of Gujarat State Government Corporation, Gujarat Industrial Investment
Corporation (GIIC) with Mafatlal Group and operated in the business of procuring
and distributing natural gas.”
2.2 Acquisition by British Gas and Merger with GSPC
The GGCL went public in October 1991, and the British Gas (BG) Group acquired
a majority of its stake of 65.12% in 1997 to expand its wings and strengthen its
business value chain to leverage the current assets and profitability in the Indian
market. “The acquisition marked a new phase for GGCL. It witnessed a strong
orientation for safety, compliance, and detailed orientation, which transformed the
organization and created a culture of policy and process integration with a strong
business focus,” Upadhyay explained.
Any company in the oil, gas, and petroleum industry can be classified into
three primary groups depending on their function in the supply chain: upstream,
downstream, and midstream. Upstream business involves identifying, exploring,
extracting, and producing raw materials from the Earth’s crust. In contrast, the
midstream business involves transporting and storing raw products before they are
refined and processed into fuels and essential elements. The downstream busi-
ness involves converting raw materials and resources into finished products and
delivering them to customers (https://www.forbes.com/companies/repsol/?sh=167
409b17c2a). The BG Group decided to divest downstream assets and invited bids
for its stake in GGCL in November 2011, as it was expanding its business outside
India and wanted to concentrate on the upstream business. BG had a long-term
local natural gas (LNG) contract to maximize its position in the upstream market
and decided to sell its stake in GGCL. GGCL’s market capitalization at that time
stood at 3,937 crores INR. GGCL’s catering CNG segment had continued to grow,
with 5,800+ vehicles converted to natural gas and 10,700+ households connected
to the gas supply in the July 2012 quarter.
The then Chief Minister of Gujarat and now Prime Minister of the country, Shri
Narendra Modi, wanted to preserve the unique organization and decided to make
it a state-owned entity. With this vision, in 2013, Gujarat State Petroleum Cor-
poration Limited (GSPC), through its subsidiary, Gujarat Distribution Networks
Limited (GDNL), acquired majority stakes (65.12%) in GGCL from BG (Finan-
cial Express, 2002; Rediff News, 1998). The acquisition of GGCL had significant
strategic importance and added a considerable customer base to GSPC’s existing
business in Gujarat (Economic Times, 2012; Business Line, 2013; Times of India,
2012). The acquisition was also consistent with the company’s stated strategic
objective of expanding its presence in upstream and downstream segments of the
energy value chain and realizing the vision of developing Gujarat as a natural gas-
driven economy. The companies finally merged to become Gujarat Gas Limited in
2015.
2.3 GGL Today
Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL) in 2022 is India’s most extensive city gas distribu-
tion (CGD) player and has its presence in 43 districts in the states of Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, and in the Union
Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (https://www.gujaratgas.com/about-us/the-
company/). The company had India’s most extensive residential, commercial, and
industrial customer base. In the words of a GGL veteran, “The company is a
unique example of being a joint venture organization and becoming a multina-
tional organization and then again becoming a state-owned organization through a
reverse merger. The culture, HRD practices, and OD interventions played a cru-
cial role in determining the organization’s future.” GGL has more than 15.5 lakh
household customers, over 13,000 commercial customers, 559 CNG stations, over
4,000 industrial customers, and close to 30,000 km of natural gas pipeline network
(https://www.gujaratgas.com/about-us/the-company/).
Overall, based on the history and evolution of GGL, it is evident that the evolu-
tion and impact of OD and HRD practices have played a critical role in the culture
formation, development, and growth of GGL.
3 OD and HRD Interventions
3.1 Phase I: Era of Experimentation and Exploration
In the early 1990s, the Management of GGCL had complete empowerment from
both Mafatlal and the GIIC, allowing them to leverage their intrapreneurial capa-
bilities to develop the company at a rapid pace. During that time, the company
established its training center in Bharuch and formed a strong HRD department
(Economic Times, 2021). The company’s primary objectives were marketing,
providing quality customer service, and upholding high safety standards. Early
customer response was positive, and the company grew with high customer
centricity. Visionary leadership at that time focused on three pillars: experimenta-
tion, exploration, and innovation. The GGCL quickly adopted pioneering human
resource development practices under F. B. Virani, the then Managing Director of
the organization. He helped lead and build a culture where all were encouraged
to experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them. There was little resistance to
change, and the enabling environment flourished under dynamic top management
leadership with few significant interventions. However, during the rapid growth
stage (1994–1997), the business flourished and immediately recognized the need
for reskilling talent, enhancing customer satisfaction, and more. Fostering a culture
that encouraged employee involvement, safety, and swift and speedy customer sup-
port was the need of the hour. Keeping this objective in mind, the company adopted
various HRD interventions and total quality routes. They used tools such as HRD
audit, vision, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction surveys, integrated
talent management using performance management, and potential appraisal and
reward systems (PPRDS) (Annexure I).
3.2 Phase II: Growth That Propelled Acquisition by British Gas
In 1997, a significant change occurred for the GGCL when the British Gas (BG)
Group acquired significant stakes from the Mafatlals. The resulting vision state-
ment and core values at GGCL are shown in Annexure II. The new acquisition
caused a sense of insecurity among employees. People were worried about the
new management, new culture, losing their position and job, increased workload,
and more. A senior ex-employee of GGL quipped, “BG Group had now acquired
the group, and it changed the organization’s DNA forever. The employee unions
got established because the employees were apprehensive about many sensitive
issues, especially job security. Hence, the employees decided to create a union
for the common welfare and protection of their rights.” The company’s primary
focus thus shifted toward employee engagement, employee satisfaction, health and
safety, customer service, leadership development, and performance management.
In the 2000s, with rapid growth and scaling up, the company adopted significant
interventions while keeping the primary objectives in mind. At first, HR needed to
rebuild employee trust and reinstate the trade unions’ faith in the management; this
led to GGCL shifting its focus to cultural realignment to improve employee and
customer engagement. Employee and customer satisfaction surveys were an ongo-
ing part of GGCL culture. Grow Talent Company Ltd., a leading consulting firm,
was hired to conduct employee satisfaction surveys to understand how workers
perceived the quality of their working relationships and workplace culture. The
company had taken these initiatives to drive engagement, commitment, satisfac-
tion, and retention. Surveys indicated that employee communication, performance
management, and reward and recognition practices needed attention. Surveys also
indicated employee concerns regarding job security. The top management focused
sharply on these areas, rebuilding trust and collaboration and instilling a sense
of pride in the employees. HR specifically worked in various ways to address
job security issues, for example, the company conducts these surveys periodically
every financial year to identify the issues faced by customers and employees to try
and resolve them as early as possible (https://www.gujaratgas.com/resources/dow
nloads/business-responsibility-report.pdf).
Furthermore, GGCL’s top management developed a golden handshake scheme
to enhance the workforce’s performance. The scheme involved an online perfor-
mance management system that tracks down the continuous developmental plan
of every individual. All HR-related policies were also updated on the system to
ensure proper communication.
After the acquisition, the GGCL focused on standardized mechanisms and stan-
dard operating procedures (SOPs) to establish effective control and monitoring
mechanisms aligning processes with a safety culture. There were many behavioral-
based safety training programs, and overall, the focus shifted from developmental
HR to IR since management was concerned about the employee safety protocols,
a separate department, Health Safety Security and Environment, was also set up
(Annexure III).
Finally, as a responsible organization, the GGCL recognized its obligations
to positively impact society and the environment through continuous formal and
informal initiatives. GGCL developed a part-time training and skill-building pro-
gram for auto-mechanics to inculcate an awareness of CNG’s needs to meet the
business needs and benefit the community. GGCL also strengthened relation-
ships with government and external stakeholders for future growth and support
(Annexure I).
Through the said initiatives, GGL moved the overall focus to people inclusion
toward community and environment (Annexure IV). GGL has done phenomenal
work in corporate social responsibility (CSR), recognized in Gujarat and nationally
(Annexure V).
On the growth over the years of GGL, Upadhyay shared, “The period up to 2012
was an era of growth, and the company witnessed major activities that boosted the
organization’s growth and development” (Annexure VI).
3.3 Phase III: Merger and Consolidation with GSPC Group

and Growth to Date
2007–2013 was initially a period of growth for GGCL, but this volume and
growth stagnated toward the end of 2013. Despite this, the GGCL followed
employee benefit schemes, including post-employment benefit plans, defined con-
tribution plans, long-term employment benefits, short-term employment benefits,
and ESOPs (Annexure VII).
On the other hand, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (GSPC) was
the start-up city gas distribution (CGD) arm of the Gujarat State Petrochemical
group, which began its operations in 2006. By 2012, it had become the largest
CGD company in India, surpassing established players through aggressive project
execution and by identifying, prioritizing, and relentlessly pursuing high-growth
avenues. The significant facts of GSPC Gas through an HR prism are summarized
(Annexure VI).
In 2013, GSPC, through its subsidiary Gujarat Distribution Networks Ltd.
(GDNL), acquired the stakes in GGCL from the BG Group (Annexure IX). The
reverse merger has brought a new dimension to the company’s functioning. After
the GSPC took over management control of the GGCL in 2013, the two compa-
nies continued to run as separate entities for 2 years while merger options were
evaluated and finalized.
On the one hand, under BG management, GGCL looked at a larger picture of
global standards as an MNC in natural gas distribution and occupational health and
safety. While the GGCL was aligned with global practices, the GSPC management
and culture looked at the local context, state government policy and procedures,
and existing service conditions of the GSPC and its associated companies. It was
the marriage of two drastically different company cultures poised for integration.
Finally, the combined entity was named Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL) and was
listed in 2015. Post-merger, the combined entity business registered significant
growth, led to wealth creation for shareholders, and soon became India’s most sig-
nificant city gas distribution player. Some wondered whether it was situational. The
actual ground-level reality vis-à-vis previously identified challenges was checked
to determine the efficacy of HR integration and the merger’s success.
3.4 Challenges as a Combined Entity, GGL
GGL focused on collaborating strengths, creating value, and growing markets. The
reverse merger brought new opportunities and challenges for the HRD team. On
the one hand, GSPC Gas employees were delighted to get the backing of a cash-
rich and process-oriented company, and the reports said they were looking forward
to rapid growth, having acquired a reputed MNC. However, employees needed
more satisfaction regarding the distribution of portfolios and the assignment of
roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, many top- and middle-level management
officials decided to leave during M&As since the company would become a public
sector organization.
Additionally, new employees joined the GGCL through direct recruitment on a
contractual basis, creating significant issues among existing employees and result-
ing in the absence of a cohesive work atmosphere. Therefore, GGL decided to
make new changes to its employment terms, which differed from the earlier prac-
tices used in GSPC and GGCL (Annexure VI and Annexure VII). The other
significant HRD challenges for the HR team during the period 2014–2016 were as
follows:
1. The GGCL worked on a vertical structure with more specialized functions

and a skilled workforce in the industry segment. In contrast, the GSPC had
a horizontal structure and worked on a more focused project approach and
strategies to expand the business.
2. The speed of execution across both companies was different.
3. The growth trajectory of both organizations was different.
4. The organizational structure of both erstwhile companies was different. There
was a need for a significant structural redesign.
5. The pay grades and compensation of both entities need alignment.
6. Merging of HR or ERP systems, SOPs, and processes to leverage strengths.

7. Realignment of culture and operational philosophy/practices of both entities.
8. The changing face of leaders and leadership approaches.
9. Aligning roles, responsibilities, designations, HR policies, employee benefits,
and service conditions.
10. Employee retention and well-being.
11. Legal compliance with changes in the firm’s name and changes in registra-
tions.
4 Actions by the New Head HR
While looking at the scenario, Upadhyay took charge of leading HR and Admin.
He analyzed the situation to find the best possible solutions for protecting the
interest of the employees and the organization. GGL, as a merged entity, had the
strengths and weaknesses of both erstwhile companies, i.e., GGCL and GSPC Gas.
The integration of two different organizational structures and cultures could cause
problems and, if not handled well, could lead to merger and acquisition failure.
For the smooth changeover, the GGL MD met with managers above senior man-
ager level and change management agents were nominated among them across
the company. This philosophy helped communicate the proper business agenda;
provide continuous communication through various stakeholders on the M&A pro-
cess; and cover various HR aspects, including job security, culture enhancement,
and mitigating the risk across the organization. Peeush also looked into the past,
relied on his experience, and studied various previous interventions to manage the
M&A challenges. After thoroughly evaluating the challenges and understanding
the current situation, Peeush attempted the best possible solution “to merge the
various service conditions and create an equitable and fair single layer identity for
all the employees.” Key HR-led initiatives incorporated on a priority basis included
the following:
. GGCL employees were on the company payroll, while GSPC Gas employ-
ees were in a contract role. Thus, all employees of erstwhile GSPC Gas were
accommodated at par on the role, securing the job of employees.
. Defining/implementing organizational structure along with accountability
across levels.
. Defining the financial authority matrix for proper business processes.
. Implementing the best HR policies from both companies.
. C&B alignment (median-based salary alignment) across the levels and imple-
mented in 2 years to bring compensation and benefit at par.
. Implementing the L&D philosophy across the company, including various OD
interventions, viz., Shabassh Card/Pinnacle Award/Safety Awards on a monthly/
quarterly/yearly basis.
. Implementing digitalization for all business and HR processes, including

approval notes and policy implementation.
. HR visits across locations to explain various HR processes and policies along
with discussion for any query related to M&A.
. Various cross-functional meets and departmental meets.
Overall, the post-merger was a challenging time for the top management, espe-
cially for the HR team. However, Upadhyay handled it well, with the support of
the MD, the senior management, and the HR team members, he was able to main-
tain the synergy and ensure that the organization’s business was positively affected
despite the present challenges. Upadhyay added, “In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity, and we started exploring all options which would help us sail through
as the winner.” These opportunities were as follows:
1. Target untapped areas and extend boundaries: The compressed gas distribu-
tion for the city grew exponentially at a rate of 10% in the last decade and is
expected to grow 20–22% over the next decade. Thus, there was a massive
opportunity for the organization to scale up and grow outside the bound-
aries of Gujarat to supply high-quality, low-cost energy across India safely.
Many untapped areas had high commercial viability and margins, leading to
profitability and growth potential.
2. Reskill employees: To meet the considerable need for new, high-end skill sets,
GGL encouraged employees to be trained and invest themselves in acquiring
high-end skills rather than hiring a new pool of talent of diploma holders and
fresh engineers.
3. Change Management: Rapid growth in the sector and concurrent impact on
the organization’s growth opportunities pose an excellent opportunity for man-
agement changes by top leadership. This involved leading change for the
organization, its stakeholders, the customer, the investors (Govt.), and finally
having employees implement and, more often than not, initiate changes as the
pioneers in the field.
4.1 Final Interaction with the MD
Before concluding his study, Subrata also explored the possibility of meeting the
MD for his closing remarks. Upadhyay made some efforts and organized the same.
So, there came the opportunity for the award committee to interact with the head
of the institution of this mammoth organization. Subrata was well prepared and
keen to gain the maximum from the brief meeting, so he presented four specific
questions:
. What is your brief perspective on culture and people management in Gujarat

Gas today? The MD replied, “The culture here is a healthy blend of profes-
sionalism and commitment to social objectives. Its strong focus on processes,
safety-first culture, and adoption of global best practices has made it a breeding
ground for talent in the CGD sector. I am proud to say that today, most of the
CGD companies in India have Gujarat Gas-trained personnel at key positions in
their organization. Training and upgrading people’s skill sets have always been
an integral part of our culture….”
. Going ahead, he asked, given Gujarat Gas’s rich and diverse history, where
do you visualize its journey ahead? He replied, “…We believe in strategically
aligning ourselves to energize India’s Natural Gas Vision of increasing the nat-
ural gas penetration to 15% by 2030 from currently at 6.5–7%. This approach
enabled raise our execution capabilities. I am proud to say that GGL is no
more a one-state company. It now has a presence in six states and one Union
Territory..”
. Specifically, in HRD/people management and change management, we would
request to highlight your future perspective. “We have a vast reservoir of
CGD talent, developed by putting in place key HR processes leading to a
high-performance culture across the organization, as per the need to meet orga-
nizational objectives. However, along with changing environment, we need to
change their mindset from a pipeline-laying outfit to a marketing company. Nat-
ural Gas is no more a commodity for us at GGL. We must treat it as a product
and market it with strong customer service.”
After listening to the story of this unique organization, Business Editor Subrata
thanked the MD for his time and Upadhyay for his hospitality, as well as compli-
mented him on his efforts and success, and wished him all the best for the future. It
was 7.30 p.m., and Hardip, Associate Vice President HR, GGL, who was waiting
for his boss, curiously asked him about the meeting with the awards committee.
Upadhyay replied, “The discussions were positive, and we can expect positive
development in a few days. Nevertheless, why are you looking tense?” AVP HR
hesitatingly shared that the head of a critical business vertical had resigned, and
he was concerned about finding a replacement. Upadhyay calmly replied, “We are
a leading CGD organization, and challenges of talent loss, succession planning,
safety, compliance, and continuous skill development, will keep appearing. How-
ever, we will work out strategies to resolve them. We will reflect and determine
what to do differently in our HR & OD practices to develop GGL as a market
leader and remain one of the best places to work.”
5 Present Challenge Before Head HR and GGL HR Team
Three decades of GGL witnessed innovation, nurturing a culture of collaboration,

enabling technical supremacy, ensuring health and safety, and enhancing the focus
on stakeholders. Since its inception, the adoption of sound HRD and OD practices
with a consistent focus on people practices has made it a unique organization and
established human resources as a competitive advantage. The vision of top and
potential leaders directed the firm to grow exponentially. After a successful pre-
sentation to the award committee, Upadhyay is pleased and optimistic. However,
after the discussion with Hardip, AVP-HR and his direct report, he was concerned
about the potential talent loss and deeply pondered the importance of talent man-
agement for the foreseeable future. He considered his next move and plan of action
to resolve the current issue.
6 Case Questions
1. How did the GGL organizational culture evolve? Describe the various phases
and their impact on culture.
2. What was the primary goal of the HRD team across all the phases of HRD and
OD interventions?
3. What was the focus of the HRD team across all phases? Was it talent retention,
cultural integration, quality customer service, or expansion and growth?
4. In light of recent challenges, what is a loophole in the existing HRD practices?
What further actions should indeed be taken to improve the culture?
5. In the position of Upadhyay; how would you design HRD/OD interventions in
today’s context to avoid top management loss? What will be your plan of action
for organizational growth going forward?
6. How is HR the key to any successful merger and acquisition? What are the
main parameters for human resources during a merger and acquisition?
Acknowledgements This case is developed solely for class discussion and not necessarily an
indication of the management’s decision-making style. The authors are grateful to GGL Chairman,
MD, Mr. Ravindra Agrawal, ED GSPC; Mr. Peeush Upadhyay, ED HRD; and Mr. Hardip Baria, AVP
HR for their invaluable support; and Ms. Amruta Londhe and Inika Sharma, Research Associate
IIMB for valuable assistance.
Annexure I: HRD Interventions
Phase 1: HRD and Management Interventions in the Early Years

of GGCL
1. HRD Audit: While the company started excelling as a pioneer, it proactively

recognized the need for technical training and customer service. Profitability
and growth meant upskilling talent, which was not readily available in India,
particularly in the region. Hence, top management engaged T.V. Rao (Professor
of IIM Ahmedabad and ex-Director of the Academy of HRD) to take stock of
HRD activities and to recommend future steps.
2. Vision and Mission of Gujarat Gas: Senior Management believed in quality,

customer service, and employee involvement. They engaged a consulting firm
specializing in “Total Quality Management (TQM)” to develop a vision and
mission statement with values present company-wide.
3. Employee Satisfaction Survey: The organization focused on building a culture
of quality services, creating the frameworks of TQM for internal customers and
employees and “Employee Satisfaction Surveys” and “Customer Satisfaction
Surveys” for external customers. Additionally, the “Train the Trainer” initiative
was launched, and a rigorous review mechanism was adopted.
4. Customer Satisfaction Survey: Senior management wanted to achieve signif-
icant benchmarks by measuring customer service experiences and identifying
areas for improvement. GGCL engaged a global consulting firm for the cus-
tomer satisfaction survey. The results indicated 90–95% satisfaction among
industrial, commercial, and domestic customers. However, challenges included
safety and continuity of service standards, which management subsequently
prioritized.
5. Leadership Development: GGCL nominated top talent and high potential man-
agers to leading B Schools, e.g., Three-Tier Leadership Programmes in IIM
Ahmedabad. The Customer Interaction Team (CIT) was sent to the USA to
train on the best practices and bring them back to the line. Employee and cus-
tomer satisfaction surveys identified improvement areas, and trainers focused
on the same topic. 5S, Japanese tools were implemented for housekeeping and
cleanliness. Rewards and recognition were similarly used for growth.
6. Defining and managing performances: A 180-degree performance manage-
ment system was introduced, and performance scores were brought on the
common platform during leadership meetings. This allowed anyone to ques-
tion scores and challenge deviation. Performance review committees were set
up to assess the overall candidate potential.
The integration of HR into organizational systems shaped a culture of system-

driven practices and enablement. “GGL had a systems-driven culture at that
time; interventions involved everyone, helping achieve exceptional teamwork and
organizational skills.”
Note 5S—In Japanese, the five Ss imply Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shit-
suke. The five Ss are translated in English as Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize,
and Sustain.
Source Compiled from GCL’s internal documents.
Phase II: HRD and OD Interventions (BG Group Acquired

the Company)
. Employee engagement, Employee Satisfaction Surveys (ESS), and interven-

tions
Beginning with the total quality journey in 1994–95, employee satisfaction survey
and customer satisfaction survey were an ongoing part of GGCL’s culture. The
survey was conducted through the consulting firm Grow Talent Company Ltd.
The firm conducted the ESS–Great Places to Work Survey in October 2003 to
gain insights into employee perceptions of workplace relationships and culture.
The company took these initiatives to improve the satisfaction levels within the
organization (Economic Times, 2021). The key measures were credibility, respect,
fairness, pride, and camaraderie. The company conducts these surveys periodically
every financial year to identify issues and resolve them as early as possible (https:/
/www.gujaratgas.com/resources/downloads/business-responsibility-report.pdf).
. Employee Communication, consolidation, retention, and redeployment
Employee satisfaction surveys showed concern about employee communication,

so HR needed to rebuild employee trust and reinstate the trade unions’ faith.
During this time, the management decided to consolidate business in core gas
distribution, with no ancillary business to be carried out. Gujarat Gas Financial
Services Limited, a subsidiary company of GGCL incorporated in 1994, was
divested.
. Golden Handshake and Reinventing Performance Management System
GGCL’s management decided to go for the golden handshake scheme in 2003

to enhance productivity and rationalize the workforce. Continuous developmen-
tal plans were created with a 3-year cycle to focus on organizational, functional,
behavioral, and future-role needs. The promotion policy, exit policy, transfer pol-
icy, employment policy, and intra- and intercommunication systems were reviewed
in detail.
. Strengthening relations with government and external stakeholders
Although GGCL was government-promoted, relationships with government agen-

cies and other stakeholders needed strengthening, so a Director of Government
Relations was appointed. The company also added verticals such as advertising/
publicity, corporate social responsibility, media relations, and investor relations.
It moved from a uniform, rigid organization to a more diverse one incorporating

corporate and investor relations consolidation.
. CEVA movement as a significant OD intervention
CNG business consolidation and diversification led to the birth of the customer and
employee value addition—the CEVA movement. The organization was divided into
cross-functional teams to study the concerns and pinpoint areas needing realign-
ment or restructuring. Surveys have indicated that performance management and
reward and recognition practices need attention. The top management focused
sharply on these areas, taking steps to rebuild trust and collaboration.
. CSR and skill development contribution to socioenvironmental awareness
Leadership change encouraged sustainability interventions shifting the focus from

petrol to CNG. A part-time training and skill-building program was launched
to inculcate an awareness of CNG needs. This initiative increased the availabil-
ity of trained auto-mechanics whom the vehicle owners could trust to convert
their petrol-driven cars to CNG. CSR initiatives were carefully planned to ben-
efit the communities in which the company operated. For example, a program
devised to train the tribal youth of Bharuch District in gas pipeline-laying activi-
ties increased the youth’s earnings by 100–300%. With the focus shifting from IR
to HR, employee satisfaction grew from 42% in 2004 to 83% in 2007.
Annexure II: Vision Statement and Core Values at GGCL
Vision: We make natural gas the safe and preferred energy solution.
Core Values: Customer orientation, Team work, Commitment, Growth, Trust.
Source GGCL Annual Report 2013.

Annexure III: Health Safety and Environment
Gujarat Gas Limited is an OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 14001:2015 certified

company. The company ensures that all management decisions reflect its Health
Safety and Environment (HSE) intentions. GGL considers its employees’ health
and safety, environmental protection, and general public safety as top priorities. It
recognizes that the protection of health and safety and the environment is integral
to business performance and is the responsibility of the management at every level.
The goal of zero injuries drives operations to ensure that every employee working
for and on behalf of GGL returns home safely at the end of each working day.
Source GCL internal documents.
Annexure IV: People’s Inclusion Toward Community

and Environment at GCL
As a responsible organization, the GGCL recognized its obligations to posi-

tively impact society and the environment through continuous formal and informal
initiatives. Initiatives included
A. Environmental Day/Week/Fuel Conservation Awareness: Such activities

were conducted to raise awareness among the public for sustainability.
B. Dial Before Dig Campaign: In this campaign, GGCL stressed the possibility of
natural gas being released due to pipeline damage during digging. Stakeholders
were urged to dial GGCL to confirm locations before digging activities to
prevent damage to the pipeline network.
C. CSR and Society: Before beginning activities, project relevance is assessed by
one or more employees who visit the location to ensure the selection of the
most relevant and effective programs. The GGCL has thus undertaken many
initiatives in community development, especially for skill upgradation. Indige-
nous people around areas of operation are trained and taken on as contractors,
achieving lower worker attrition rates and providing livelihoods.
D. Customers: GGCL assured customers of the best services available in the
market, and to ensure this, they had a well-defined, periodically performed cus-
tomer satisfaction survey. Top management also regularly conducts customer
meetings with key customers.

Annexure V: Corporate Social Responsibility
Gujarat Gas Limited has undertaken many initiatives focusing on community

development, health, and the environment, keeping in mind government priorities
and relevance to business.
. GGL provides free gas to crematoriums across its operating locations in

Gujarat. Since this is an environmentally friendly fuel, this helps to protect
the environment.
. Contributions were made to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Swachchta
Fund to provide flood relief to Gujarat people and create public awareness for
cleanliness.
. Contributed to Akshaya Patra Foundation to set up a centralized kitchen in
Bhavnagar District to provide unlimited mid-day meals for government school-
going children.
. Contributed to the “Gujarat Environment Festival” to celebrate World Environ-
ment Day at Ahmedabad to promote the freeing of one lakh trees from possible
threats.
. Under corporate governance, activities are listed in the board and annual report
(i.e., Annexure I of annual report for 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18).
. The compliance certificate toward corporate governance issued by the practising
company secretary is showcased in the corporate governance report for 2015–
16, 2016–17, and 2017–18. Since 2016–17, the business responsibility report
activity has been introduced and has been part of the annual report.
Annexure VI: The Significant Facts of GSPC Gas Through an HR

Prism (Summarized)
(a) All employees were on fixed-term contract roles with a renewal option.
(b) No blue-collar workforce: all control room operations, and most customer ser-
vices, admin, and facilities management were outsourced to optimize costs
with adequate managerial monitoring of all services.
(c) Comparatively adequately paid white-collar staff.
(d) Part of a successful state Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) where employees
were on fixed-term contracts, practicing 6-day working week and alternate
Saturdays holidays.
(e) Lean organization managerial resources focus on aggressive expansion,
growth, volumes, and the HSE.
(f) A young organization; with empowerment, challenges, and a growth environ-
ment.
(g) Employee pride in creating new benchmarks of performance/speed of execu-
tion and outsourced development models across the industry.
(h) The unlisted entity with significant debt because of the pace of project
expansion.
(i) In 2013, GSPC Gas by volume was 2.5 times that of GGCL.
Annexure VII: Employee Rewards from the HR Perspective
(a) All employees had permanent roles with high commitment or long-term
liabilities for sustainability.
(b) There were two separate operating workers’ unions in Surat, Ankleshwar, and
Bharuch, with separate wage settlement agreements.
(c) Blue-collar employees held strong opinions about the higher paid white-collar
staff.
(d) Enhanced pride in working in an MNC, leading to practicing a 5-day working
week.
(e) GGL was a publicly listed company with no debt.
(f) Limited geographical area operations (Surat, Ankleshwar, and Bharuch) and
limited personnel transfer stifled employee growth and made them complacent.
(g) Proportionately high managerial resources with limited scope for professional
growth.
(h) As an older organization, a highly stable environment with less growth and
challenges.
(i) All operations, including most customer services, were managed internally
since there were sufficient blue-collar, unionized employees in the workforce.
Source Compiled from GGCL’s internal documents.
Annexure VIII: Grade Rationalization
Grade rationalization and equitable R&R: summary of crucial observations.

Annexure IX: Major Events During the Merger with GSPC

Appendix: Teaching Note
Case Summary
Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL) is India’s most extensive city gas distribution (CGD)
player. The company has been engaged in procuring and distributing natural gas
since its establishment in 1980. The case talks about the journey of GGL, which,
through several mergers and acquisitions, has achieved tremendous growth and
success based on its strong culture, HR practices, and OD interventions. The com-
pany began as a joint venture, grew into a multinational organization, and then
reversed its ownership to become a state-owned corporation. In all three phases,
GGL has experimented with suitable HRD and OD interventions relevant to the
different challenges at the time. During the third phase, Peeush Upadhyay, the EVP
and CHRO of Gujarat Gas Ltd. (GGL), leads the way in maintaining company
culture and employee satisfaction despite the challenges of the reverse merger.
Nevertheless, a large company such as GGL must continuously stay ahead of
new arising concerns. At the close of the case, they are at the threshold, grappling
with critical issues such as top and middle management talent loss, succession
planning, safety, compliance, and continuous skill development. As a CHRO of a
large group, Peeush wonders, “What next move should I plan to resolve the current
issues? What should I do to strengthen the culture and enhance the company’s
growth?”.
Learning Objectives
The case allows students/practicing executives/managers to study how a company

continues to adapt across various challenges in a competitive business environment
by emphasizing employee engagement, development, well-being, and alignment.
Students can understand how the company goes through the mergers and acquisi-
tions process and how it transforms the organization’s culture along with its growth
journey.
Students will also learn about the various HRD/OD interventions designed and
implemented to enhance the company’s culture for improved future growth and
success.
Case Positioning
The case can be used in the class of organizational behavior, organizational culture,
organization development, human resource development, employee relations, and
mergers and acquisition course for the participants in MBA or executive MBA
programs offered in top B-schools. This case can add value for HR professionals/
HR leaders and senior managers of large corporations/public sector companies.
Moreover, CEOs/CXO enrolled themselves in short-duration executive education/
general management programs offered by B-schools to understand the merger and
acquisition process and various HRD/OD interventions planned to strengthen the
firm’s culture.
Teaching Plan
Prerequisites
This case should require 75–90 min of class time. The case can be introduced by
emphasizing the role of employees in ensuring a business is successful through
challenges and transformation. After going through the case, students should
attempt the discussion questions in groups, with a reminder to incorporate previ-
ously learned OB, OD, and HRM concepts. The class should then come together to
discuss and debate the responses they formulated within the group, with the teacher
establishing a collaborative and open-minded setting. Additional texts could be
emphasized for the topics of class interest. The case closing should emphasize the
role of OB and HRM in supporting company evolution and reflecting business
changes in organizational culture.
Discussion Questions
How did the GGL organizational culture evolve? Describe the various phases and
their impact on culture.
Culture is an essential aspect of any organization. Kotter (2008) defines culture as
the shared values of a group, even when individual members change. It needs to be
addressed or it may become a secondary issue for the company. Ignoring culture
is a mistake because culture positively and negatively impacts a company’s perfor-
mance, reputation, and brand value. If the organization’s culture is appropriately
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admiration. She had a most acute power of distinguishing nuances
of breeding, and in the East she came into contact with a class of
man of very different caliber from that of Harter.
Not once, in all her twenty-eight years, had she even wished to
establish a permanent link between herself and a fellow creature.
And Bill Patch, who liked everybody and who was everybody’s
friend, listened to her.
I suppose it was just that element in Bill Patch that made a writer of
him, which enabled him to understand. Something rather beyond the
apprehension of most of us, to whom he was simply a good-
tempered, red-headed boy with an unexpected brain power. Only
Sallie, justifying her determination to specialize in psychology, had
seen rather further than other people when she said that Captain
Patch was a temperamental romantic, capable of a grande passion.
He listened to Diamond Harter and came, I suppose, as near to
perfect comprehension of her as one soul can ever come to perfect
comprehension of another. That is to say that he not only understood
what her words told him, but that he saw far beyond them to the
Diamond Harter that she might have been, and that—almost
unknown to herself—she must, sometimes, have dimly felt a wish to
be.
Whatever else there is to say about Mrs. Harter, it is indisputable that
she possessed a character of unusual strength and that there were
in her latent possibilities almost frightful in their intensity.
Bill Patch saw straight past everything, accepted everything, and
somehow made her see that he understood and that he accepted.
He was passionately in love with her—but that day on Loman Hill he
did not speak a word of love to her. There were no preliminary
explanations or tentative confidences between them. The whole
thing was too vital for that.
At the top of Loman Hill, at the crossroads, is a beech tree, on which
lovers have carved their initials for generations. It stands beside a
low hedge in which is set a rickety five-barred gate. It was at that
gate that they must have stood, as everyone stands, gazing at the
blue haze that lies over the hills beyond and at the square, red
sandstone tower of Cross Loman church below them.
I have stood at the crossroads on Loman Hill many and many a time
and looked over the five-barred gate, at the tower of St. Andrew’s,
and when I went there last, I thought of those two who must have
stood there together—Mrs. Harter and Captain Patch.
She was a tall woman, and her shoulders and his were nearly on a
level; and his red head topped hers only by a matter of a quarter of
an inch. I never saw Bill Patch wear a cap or a hat. Her clothes were
rather distinctive, and she wore them well. She had a figure for tailor-
made suits, and they were nearly always dark in color, and she wore
with them a white silk shirt, open at the throat. Her hats were always
severe—dark velours, of the plainest possible contour. Mary says
that she knew her style, and stuck to it.
It was characteristic of her to keep her hands thrust into her coat
pockets, and I always fancy that it was so that she leaned against
the rickety gate, her shoulders as erect as Bill’s were slouched.
He was so short-sighted that he never took off his glasses, and
through those queer, thick lenses he must have looked at her, as he
listened. His eyes always had that friendly smile in them, and that
odd, pathetic look that had reminded me of a Clumber spaniel. It was
his mouth that betrayed him, with the sensitive line of lip that was
visible only when he was not laughing. That gave one Bill Patch, the
writer and dreamer—Sallie’s potential romantic.
They stood at the crossways for a very long while, and, after a time,
in silence. Bill Patch knew, absolutely for certain, that he loved her,
and that they belonged to one another. The supreme importance of
it, in his eyes, made everything else of so little account that he did
not even wonder what would happen.
Mrs. Harter was different. She had never waited as Bill, quite
unconsciously, had waited. The thing had come upon her unawares,
and part of her—the part that had made her marry Harter, and then
flirt with other men—had absolutely denied the existence of the one
supreme reality.
But the capacity for recognizing it had been there all the time,
smothered under her cheap cynicism, her ruthless ambition, and the
streak in her of sheer, iron hardness.
She had to recognize it, when it came, and to surrender to it.
And so she was frightened, or at least overwhelmed, at first. Bill’s
intuition told him that, and he gave her time.
He told her that he’d been very happy all his life, even during the
war. His mother had died when he was too little to remember her,
and his father had married again. He was friends with his
stepmother. She and his father had two jolly little kids.
He had heaps of friends. A good many of them had gone west in the
war.
His writing, Bill Patch said, was a frightfully real thing in its way, but it
actually only took a bit of him to do it—he looked on it as a sort of
trick. He thought perhaps his subconscious self did most of it, and
that was why he could write so easily, and didn’t mind old Carey
chatting about poisoners all the time, or people talking in the room,
or anything. He knew it was a form of self-expression, for some
people, but it wasn’t for him. He didn’t, in fact, think he needed a
form of self-expression. He had always, he said again, been very
happy.
And all the time he had known that he was waiting for something,
and that it was something very great. But he hadn’t known at all what
it would be.
Sometimes I have wondered what Mrs. Harter made of it all, as she
listened to him. He was so much younger than she, in experience,
and in knowledge, and most of all in spirit. Mrs. Harter was, one
might say, temperamentally sophisticated, and Bill Patch, who was
two years her junior, was most essentially childlike. It is the only
adjective I can think of that comes anywhere near to describing that
quality in him that had made him, all his life, always happy.
There had never been any woman at all, “to count” he said. He had
gone straight from school into the Army, and he hadn’t thought about
girls much, although he greatly admired the pretty ones.
Always he came back to it again—he’d had that queer feeling of
waiting for something. He didn’t mean someone—a person—no, it
was more like a job, something that only he could do. It sounded
odd, Bill admitted, but there it was. Something to do, in a way, with
God. Yes, he believed in God.
And Mrs. Harter, who didn’t, and who never had, didn’t say a word.
It was Bill Patch who said at last that they ought to go. One
supposes that no single one of all the men whom Mrs. Harter had
known would have been sufficiently lacking in the technique of that
sort of situation, to propose putting an end to it. She wouldn’t have
given them the chance, probably saying it herself, with her most
disconcerting air of suddenly finding their company not at all worth
her while.
But when Bill Patch said that it was late, and that he ought to take
her home again, Mrs. Harter acquiesced, simply. They must have
taken a last look over the five-barred gate at the evening sky, against
which the red church tower always stands out with peculiar, clear-cut
precision of outline, before they turned away, and went down the
long slope of Loman Hill, which lies between high banks where the
green almost meets overhead.
Bill asked her about her singing, and she said that she’d learned at
school, and taken a few lessons just before she married. She used
to sing a good deal, in Cairo, because the men she knew liked it. Did
he understand, she asked him, that she was the sort of person who
sang only for that sort of reason? Once, at a party in a man’s rooms,
they’d put her right up on the top of the piano, and she’d sung there,
and they’d said it was worth a double brandy-and-soda. Men were
always wanting to stand her drinks, and she took them, partly out of
devilment, and partly because her husband hated it. She’d got a
strong enough head for anything.
I can quite imagine her facing Bill, as she told him that, her mouth
hard and rather mocking, and perhaps in her eyes the dawn of a
hope that she strove to believe was an incredulous one.
And Bill said that had nothing at all to do with it. He didn’t specify
what it was, that it had nothing to do with—but that was the last time
Diamond Harter ever thought it necessary to point out to him the
things about herself, by which the rest of the world judged her.
Chapter Seven
Most of us, no doubt—except, I must once more add, the Kendals—
hover between two planes of consciousness: the inner life and the
outer existence. The predominant values of either remain fairly well
defined, and vary very little.
But for Captain Patch, that summer, the inner life and the outer one
must have mingled strangely.
In the mornings, he listened to old Carey’s chatter of Crippen, and
Mrs. Maybrick, and all the other figures in his rather macabre gallery
of celebrities, and he gardened with Mrs. Fazackerly, and they
worked at the “Bulbul Ameer” show together. Very often, in the
afternoons, there were rehearsals, sometimes there were tennis
parties. Very often, though not always, he and Mrs. Harter met at the
latter. She was invited to quite a lot of places, partly thanks to Nancy
Fazackerly’s efforts, and partly because she played a hard game of
tennis quite extraordinarily well. Bill Patch always saw her home
afterwards, quite openly. And every evening they were out together,
often going very far afield, for she was a good walker. Once Martyn
Ambrey met them, and it was after that, when someone spoke of
“that Mrs. Harter,” that he said to Mary:
“Do you remember our saying she had such a defiant face, and you
said she looked unhappy?”
“Yes. The night she sang ‘The Bluebells of Scotland’ at the concert.”
“And cousin Claire said she was hard.”
“Did she?”
“Of course, cousin Claire is almost always wrong.”
“You only mean that you and she generally hold different opinions.”
Martyn laughed, but after a minute he said reflectively: “That woman
hard? I wonder what we were all thinking about.”
It is not Mary Ambrey’s way to ask questions, and Martyn did not
elucidate. He only looked as though he were seeing again something
that might have struck him that afternoon, and repeated, with a
rather derisive inflection in his cocksure young voice, “That woman
hard?”
The “Bulbul Ameer” play was gradually being built up, under the
usual frightful difficulties, by a number of people who were all
determined to help.
The Kendals faithfully attended every rehearsal en bloc, although
only Alfred and Amy were to take parts, Amy being alleged by
Mumma to be possessed of a voice.
“Not a great deal of Ear perhaps—not one of them has an ear, I’m
afraid—but Amy certainly has a Voice. I’ve said from the days when
they were all little tots together, that Amy certainly had a voice. Don’t
you remember, girls, my telling you long ago that Amy was the only
one with a voice?”
The Kendals, of course, remembered quite well. They never fail
Mumma.
Amy and the Voice were admitted into the cast and that, as Bill Patch
said, was all right. But it didn’t entitle Alfred Kendal to come out in
the new, and insufferable, guise in which he presently appeared.
(“I do think that amateur theatricals bring out all that is worst in
human nature,” Sallie thoughtfully remarked to me once.)
“Ahlfred,” as his family persist in calling him, was at home for a few
weeks. During the hours of rehearsal, from regarding him as a
pleasant, if unexciting, fellow creature, we all came to look upon him
as something that could only have been sent to try us.
It was disappointing when Amy read the words of the opening chorus
for the first time, that her only comment should be:
“Well, I suppose if we’ve got to make fools of ourselves, it can’t be
helped, and once we’re worked up to it, I daresay it won’t be so
bad”—but it was positively infuriating when Alfred, in an instructive
voice, began to make a number of suggestions all beginning with
“Why not.”
“Why not alter this a bit, here, Patch—you see what I mean? You say
‘The Muscovite Maiden comes on from the O. P. side.’ Now, why not
have her come on from the other side?”
“Why?”
“Well, wouldn’t it be effective? And why not bring in an allusion to the
moon, in that final song? Always a success, the moon, in a show like
this. Why not arrange an effect of some sort with a moderator lamp
behind the scene? I’ve seen wonders done with a moderator lamp.”
“Fancy, a moderator lamp!” said Mrs. Kendal.
“I think, as it’s supposed to be early morning in the first scene, that
perhaps the moon would be out of place,” Nancy Fazackerly
suggested apologetically.
And Alfred, with something of his mother’s singular powers of
reiteration, said, “Why not make it the evening instead?”
“I think we ought to get on a bit. We’ll take the Muscovite maiden’s
song. Sallie!” I called.
She sang it well, and the lyric was rather a pretty one.
“What about encores?” Alfred Kendal enquired, looking alertly round
him.
“We haven’t quite got to that yet.”
“I say, why not have one of the verses of the real ‘Bulbul Ameer’
song brought in each time as an encore? I call that a piece of sheer
inspiration, don’t you?”
“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” said Bill Patch grinning; and was further, and
unnecessarily, supported by Christopher Ambrey, who said that
personally, and speaking quite dispassionately, he called it a piece of
sheer senselessness. The “Bulbul Ameer” song was already being
given at the beginning, and at the end, and played at all sorts of
critical moments throughout the piece, and surely there was no need
to hear it more than forty-eight times in one evening?
“Do you really mean that one song is to be played forty-eight times?”
said Mumma. “Fancy! forty-eight times! Do you hear that, Puppa?
Why, we shall all know it quite well.”
General Kendal gave no assent to this proposition, reasonable
though it was. He had been fidgeting for some time.
“I say, Patch, do you remember a pair of boots of mine?”
“Hessian boots,” put in Mumma, helpfully.
“That’s right, Hessian boots. It’s not of the slightest consequence, of
course, but you don’t often see those Hessian boots about,
nowadays. How would it be to give them some sort of prominence?
Just draw the attention of the audience to them, in some way, if you
know what I mean. I should think it could be worked in, somehow.”
“Why not make an allusion to Puss-in-Boots—something of that
kind? All those old stories come more or less out of the Arabian
Nights, don’t they, and this is supposed to take place in the East?”
“If you’re going to have Puss-in-Boots, you may as well have Dick
Whittington,” said Dolly Kendal brightly, and quite as though she was
making a relevant and reasonable observation.
“I don’t somehow quite see Puss-in-Boots, or even Dick Whittington,
in the piece,” said Nancy Fazackerly—but she said it with so much
hesitation, in her fear of hurting anybody’s feelings, that one quite felt
they might very well have been there all the time, without our having
been clever enough to recognize them.
“Why not little Bo-Peep, while we’re about it?” Sallie asked
sardonically. “Do let’s get on, instead of wasting time like this.”
I saw Mrs. Fazackerly gaze at her with fearful admiration. Perhaps
Claire saw it too—and she does not ever think that admiration, of
any kind, is good for Sallie.
“I don’t want to interrupt,” she began smoothly, and I got ready to be
interrupted at once. “But you do the whole thing so well, Sallie
darling, that it’s a shame it shouldn’t be absolutely perfect.”
Claire has not yet discovered that, to Sallie’s generation, tact is as
objectionable as plain speaking is to her own.
“I want you to see how a real Eastern maiden, which is what you’re
supposed to be, would move. You walk like a European. Now look at
me.”
Of course, that was all she wanted. We looked at her.
Claire has a beautiful figure, and she moves very well. But I do not
know that she has any particular claim to expert knowledge about
Eastern women. However, there she was, in her own house, and of
course everybody looked at her while she gravely walked up and
down—everybody, that is to say, except Sallie, who was
ostentatiously lighting a cigarette.
“You see what I mean?” said Claire, but she was wise enough not to
say it to Sallie, who quite obviously neither wished nor intended to
see.
Of course it was Mrs. Fazackerly who murmured, “Oh yes—how well
you do it!” and then Claire sat down again, her insistent egoism
satisfied for the moment.
“I should like to go through the whole of the first scene again,” said
Bill Patch, looking harassed.
“We haven’t settled anything yet about Puppa’s Hessian boots,” one
of the Kendals reproachfully observed.
“They come in later. Ivan Petruski Skivah will wear them. That’s
Martyn. And I should like to know, if possible, whether you can
undertake Abdul the Bulbul Ameer, Major Ambrey?”
“Dear me, haven’t you settled that yet?” Mrs. Kendal asked, in
amicable surprise. “I should have thought the parts would have been
settled long ago. We seem to be getting on very slowly, don’t we?”
I agreed with her and called upon Christopher to make up his mind.
To my surprise, he did not utter the uncompromising refusal that I
had expected. He only said that if Patch would take his oath not to
ask him to sing anything by himself, or speak a single line, or do
anything of that sort, he’d think about it.
“But Abdul is the chief character in the piece. I can’t very well make
him deaf and dumb,” expostulated the author.
“Well, then, some other chap had better take it on. I should only
make a mull of it.”
I heard Nancy Fazackerly softly protesting at this, and Christopher
crossed over to the piano, where she had been patiently sitting all
the afternoon.
“I’ll turn over the pages for you,” he suggested, and he remained
standing behind her head, looking down at the pale gold knot of her
hair and saying “Now?” anxiously at short intervals.
The tune of “Abdul the Bulbul Ameer” rattled through the room again
and again, and Martyn and Sallie and Alfred and Amy all sang it, and
General Kendal boomed his usual accompaniment of some rather
indeterminate monosyllable repeated over and over again. All the
rehearsals seem to me now to have been very much alike.
Bill Patch was always gay and light-hearted and more or less
distracted, and Mrs. Fazackerly was always good-tempered and
obliging—and almost always untruthful, when appealed to on any
question of conflicting opinions.
Sallie Ambrey was always competent, and her acting was very
clever. So was Martyn’s. Eventually, they made Bill Patch play the
villain’s part himself, after Christopher Ambrey had declined it.
“I’d rather turn over the pages for the orchestra,” said Christopher,
and the orchestra smiled at him gratefully in the person of Mrs.
Fazackerly.
The Kendals almost always came to the rehearsals. I think Puppa
had some idea that his presence inspired the whole thing with a spirit
of military discipline. At any rate, he said, “Come, come, come,”
every now and then when Bill or I had stopped the rehearsal in order
to confer with one another.
And Mumma, I feel sure, enjoyed watching Amy and Alfred on the
stage and Blanche and Dolly and Aileen among the audience.
Claire was there, of course. From time to time she interrupted
everything, in order to show somebody how to do something. Most of
them were very patient with her, and Patch, in all simplicity, always
thanked her. I daresay that the others didn’t see it as I did. I find it
difficult to be fair to Claire. Mary Ambrey, I noticed, used to find a
seat near her and used to listen while Claire explained in an
undertone that, funnily enough, she had a great deal of the actress in
her and other things like that. So long as one person was exclusively
occupied with her, Claire was fairly safe not to make one of her
general appeals.
Mary Ambrey was to prompt, and during the first few rehearsals she
had nothing to do and could attend to Claire.
“Why not do without prompting altogether?” said Alfred Kendal. “We
can always gag a bit, if necessary. Topical allusions—that sort of
thing.”
“I couldn’t,” said his sister Amy firmly. “I’m sure you’d better have a
prompter.”
Mumma supported Amy. “Some of you are sure to get stage fright
and to break down on the night, and that’s when the prompter is
useful. When someone gets stage fright, you know, and breaks
down.”
Captain Patch asked me afterwards if it was absolutely necessary for
General and Mrs. Kendal to attend every rehearsal. He said that
Mrs. Kendal was breaking his nerve. And the General thought, and
spoke, of nothing but his Hessian boots. Bill put in a song about
them on purpose to please him and Martyn—Ivan Petruski Skivah—
sang it.
Mrs. Harter did not attend any of the early rehearsals. She had
nothing to do with the play, really, and was only to sing “The Bulbul
Ameer” before the curtain went up and again at the end of the play. I
think Nancy Fazackerly had made Bill understand that Claire would
not welcome Mrs. Harter to the rehearsals.
One day old Mr. Carey came. He made us all rather nervous, and his
daughter, at the piano, lost her head completely.
“Father is such a personality,” I heard her murmuring to Christopher
—a phrase which she generally reserved for those who had no
personal experience of her father’s peculiarities.
That was after old Carey had criticized a bit of dialogue which he
attributed to his daughter’s authorship and which afterwards turned
out to have been written by Bill Patch quite independently.
“I know nothing whatever about writing,” said Carey, who, like many
other people, appeared to think this in itself a reason for offering an
opinion on the subject. “In fact, I’m willing to admit that it seems to
me a damned waste of time for any full-grown person to sit and
scribble a lot of nonsense about something that never happened,
and never could have happened, for other full-grown persons to
learn by heart and gabble off like a lot of board-school children.
However, that’s as it may be. What you young people don’t realize is
that there are things going on all around you every day that would
beat the plot of any story, or any play, hollow.”
When old Carey had said this, he looked round him triumphantly, as
though he had just made a new and valuable contribution to the
subject of literature.
He also said that anyone could write, if only they had the time, and
that reading novels was only fit for women, and that generally he had
enough to do reading the Times every day, with an occasional
detective story if he had nothing better to do.
Mrs. Fazackerly looked unhappy, but Bill Patch was impervious to it
all.
He sat down beside the old man and listened to him quite earnestly,
and presently I heard old Carey, evidently intending a concession,
inquire whether authors thought of their plots first and their
characters afterwards or their characters first and their plots
afterwards.
I have often wondered whether there is any writer in the world who
has escaped that inquiry.
“I have often thought that I should like to write a book,” said Mrs.
Kendal in a tolerant way. “I’m sure if I put down some of the things
that have happened to me in my life, they would make a most
extraordinary tale, and probably no one would believe that they had
really happened.”
I fancied that Amy and Alfred Kendal cast rather a nervous glance at
their parent at these implications, but the General remained entirely
unmoved, and I found that, instead of listening, he was offering, in a
rather uncertain manner, to drive Mrs. Fazackerly and Sallie into the
town to choose material for the costumes that were to be worn in the
play.
“What is the use of having a car if we cannot help our friends out of a
difficulty?” said Mumma, with her large, kind smile. “Let us all go in
this afternoon—you and I, Puppa, and Nancy and Sallie. The girls
can keep Ahlfred company at home.”
If Mrs. Kendal is obliged to go out anywhere without her family, she
always arranges some occupation for the absent members of it. I
think it gives her a sense of security.
“The car holds four very comfortably, but more than four are bad for
the springs, I believe. One has to think about the springs, especially
in a new car. Springs are so important,” said Mumma.
“If my tin Lizzie can be of any use, I’ll drive anyone anywhere,” said
Christopher Ambrey eagerly. “And in Lizzie’s case there’s no need to
consider the springs, as there aren’t any to speak of. Look here, I
suggest that if you and General Kendal can really find room for
Sallie, I should drive Mrs. Fazackerly in, and—and then you can
take, say, Patch. I’m sure Patch ought to be there to settle about the
clothes and things—or Martyn. I should think Martyn ought to go, if
anyone does, to make sure you get the right things for those boots.”
“We’re only going to buy materials—not clothes,” said Sallie. “But,
still, I daresay that Martyn could be quite useful.”
“I think Bill had better go,” Martyn firmly declared.
“I can’t. It’s awfully good of you, Mrs. Kendal, but my partner will do
all that far better than I could.”
He smiled at Mrs. Fazackerly, who was smiling back at him happily,
when the unexpected sound of old Carey’s voice suddenly and
completely extinguished the brightness in her face.
“Nancy can go with you, Mrs. Kendal, as you’re kind enough to
propose it, and there are one or two things I want done in the town.
Nancy can see to them.”
Sallie’s clear, intelligent gaze went from one to the other of them.
She sees a great deal, but she has not yet learned how to look as
though she didn’t see it.
“If Martyn and I may go with you, Mrs. Kendal, we’ll sit in the back of
the car and rehearse to one another. (Yes, Martyn, we must—time is
frightfully short, and you know how woolly you are about your
words.) And then Chris can take Nancy, and we can all meet
somewhere for tea. What time, Mrs. Kendal?”
Sallie is always so confident, and decisive, and resolute, that she
can carry things off with a high hand. Old Carey subsided again and
Mrs. Kendal said, some seven or eight times, that as they always
had tiffin early at Dheera Dhoon—“a reminiscence of our Indian
days, I’m afraid—” she thought that they had better start at two
o’clock.
“Besides,” said Captain Patch to me, aside, “I believe it takes the
General nearly an hour to do the ten miles.”
At the last minute, the whole thing was nearly wrecked by General
Kendal, who suddenly observed: “Then I am to have the pleasure of
driving you, Mrs. Fazackerly? I hope that you will not feel nervous. I
am something of a tyro still, but I believe I am a careful driver.”
“Thank you—not a bit—but—”
“I think Sallie goes with you, General,” said Christopher.
And I saw Claire look round at the tone in which he said it.
Then the rehearsal broke up. Sallie and Martyn disappeared, but
Mary Ambrey stayed and had lunch with us.
As soon as the servants had left the dining room, Claire wrung her
hands together and looked despairing.
“Did you notice Christopher?” she asked in husky misery. “Surely,
surely he couldn’t?”
Of course, both Mary and I knew what she meant. We had heard her
say the same thing so often.
“He only offered to take her in the two-seater. There really need not
be any very great significance in that,” I pointed out, although I knew
very well that, to Claire’s type of mind, events are of two kinds only:
the intensely significant and the completely non-existent.
“I thought you wanted Christopher to get married,” said Mary calmly.
Claire nearly screamed.
“Why shouldn’t he marry Nancy Fazackerly? Not that I think he
wants to marry her just because he offers to take her for a drive—but
supposing he did, Claire—I can’t see why you shouldn’t be pleased.”
“A woman whose husband used to throw plates at her head!” said
Claire. “Have you forgotten that?”
“Mary cannot very well have forgotten it,” said I, “as no one ever
allows it to rest in peace. If I’ve heard that story once, I’ve heard it a
thousand times. And I fail to see, Claire, why the fact that Fazackerly
had an unbridled temper should be supposed to detract from the
desirability of his widow.”
I really did believe that Christopher was attracted by Nancy
Fazackerly, and although I did not—as I believe women do—
immediately begin to think about choosing them a wedding present,
it had certainly crossed my mind that it would be a pleasant thing to
see little Nancy happy. As for Christopher, I knew perfectly well that
any nice woman, especially if she liked gardening and children,
would make him happy.
Claire, however, credited him with all her own exigencies.
“Nancy Fazackerly is all very well in her own way, perhaps, but she
isn’t the sort of woman I expect my brother to marry, Miles. It may
not be her fault—I daresay it isn’t—but she has some very odd
ideas. I shall never forget how she talked about taking in a paying
guest, and whether he was to have second helpings or not.”
“I imagine that Christopher could regulate the number of helpings
that he required, at his own dinner table, for himself.”
“You know, Claire,” said Mary Ambrey, “if Nancy was away from her
father, she would be quite different. It’s only his endless naggings
about expense that has infected her. You know how adaptable she
is.”
“I know that she is the most untruthful woman of my acquaintance,”
returned Claire vehemently.
“That must have been the plates,” I affirmed positively. “I am
convinced that Nancy would not tell so many fibs as she undoubtedly
does tell if she could be brought to forget the outrageous Fazackerly
and his plate-throwing. Don’t you agree with me, Mary?”
“Yes, I do. And in any case, Claire, you know we really are taking a
good deal for granted. At one time you were afraid it might be Aileen
Kendal.”
“Never,” said Claire, with a total disregard for accuracy that would
have done ample credit to Mrs. Fazackerly herself.
Christopher brought Nancy back to the Manor that afternoon for a
very late tea.
He was in excellent spirits, and they told us about their afternoon’s
shopping.
“We got in long before the others. The General positively crawls in
that Standard of his. And Patch did turn up, after all. We met him
with Mrs. Harter.”
“That Mrs. Harter?” said Claire.
“We all of us got the things together, and we decided that Mrs. Harter
ought to wear an Eastern dress, too, for singing ‘The Bulbul Ameer.’
She’s very clever at dressmaking and she and I can easily make the
things ourselves. That’ll save expense,” babbled Nancy.
“Why didn’t you bring Captain Patch back with you? I like Captain
Patch. He and I have so much in common.”
“He and Mrs. Harter were going to have tea together somewhere in
the town.”
Claire drew her brows together for an instant and then raised them,
as though puzzled.
“But how nice of him, to be kind to Mrs. Harter!”
“I think he admires her, if you ask me,” said Christopher easily. “They
came in together by ’bus to-day from Cross Loman.”
Then they began to talk about the play again.
It was then, on that same day, that Mary Ambrey and Claire and I
had begun to ask ourselves if Christopher was falling in love with
Nancy Fazackerly, that the first suggestion was made of anybody’s
having noticed the friendship between Mrs. Harter and Captain
Patch.
Chapter Eight
After that, the two affairs in one sense ran concurrently, so far as
the outer world was concerned. In that other world, of course, that I
have called the inner life, they were on altogether different planes.
As far as I know, Bill Patch and Mrs. Harter knew no hesitations at
all. The day after that evening when they had gone up Loman Hill he
said to Mrs. Fazackerly that he could not come to the rehearsal and
that he wanted to be out all day. At nine o’clock in the morning he
was at the house in Queen Street, where she was waiting for him.
He saw her, as he crossed the road, sitting at the execrable little bow
window of the dining room, her hands clasped in her lap, quite
obviously looking down the street, waiting. When he reached the
three steps, she got up and opened the front door and said to him,
“Let’s get out of this!” jerking her head backwards at the linoleum
floor and tiled walls of the tiny entrance.
She was wearing her outdoor things, all ready.
As they walked down Queen Street together Mary Ambrey passed
them. She stopped, with some question for Bill about the play. Mrs.
Harter stood by, and after one look at her Mary suddenly
remembered Martyn’s words:
“That woman hard? I wonder what we were all thinking about!”
Captain Patch, in a way, was always joyous, and that morning he
only looked younger than ever, but, to Mary’s perceptions, there was
something about them both that almost made her catch her breath.
They looked, she said, somehow dazed. Mary never told me or
anyone else about this brief meeting until some time afterwards, but
then she said that, whenever anyone condemned either or both of
those two people who caused so much talk in our small community,
she remembered that morning and the strange impression she
received of sheer, dazzling happiness. Captain Patch told Mary that
they were going up to the moors—some twelve miles away. He
never, either then or afterwards, attempted the slightest concealment
of the fact that they went everywhere together. Neither did Mrs.
Harter, but then she was not by any means on friendly terms with the
whole of Cross Loman, as Bill Patch was, and her manner towards
the people whom she did know always held the same semi-
contemptuous reticence.
It was only a very few days later that people began to talk about
them.
It began, I have not the slightest doubt, at Dheera Dhoon. The
Kendals, like so many other people who are temperamentally good,
take an impassioned interest in those things and people which they
consider bad. But, as a matter of fact, it was Lady Annabel Bending
from whom I first heard about it.
“That is a nice youth who is staying at the Cottage with old Mr.
Carey. But they tell me that he is running after that very common-
looking woman who sings.”
Lady Annabel never sees things from her bedroom window or hears
them over the counter from Miss Applebee, like the rest of us. She
obtains all her information from a mysterious and unspecified source.
“They” tell her, or she “is informed.”
No doubt this is another relic of the Government House days.
“Mrs. Harter must be a great deal older than he is, surely, and what
can they possibly have in common?”
“Music,” said I feebly.
Not for one instant did I suppose that Bill Patch and Mrs. Harter
walked twelve miles on a hot day in order to talk about music.
Lady Annabel showed me at once that neither did she believe
anything so improbable.
“From what I have heard of Mrs. Harter, Sir Miles, I should think that
music is the last thing to occupy her mind. I think I told you that a
good deal is known about her, though it reached me only through

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Business Cases in Organisation

Behaviour and HRM Perspectives from

Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and

Marginality in India: Perspectives of Marginalisation

Sensual Austerity and Moral Leadership : Cross-Cultural

Business and Politics in India Stanley A. Kochanek

The Art and Science of Business Communication Skills

Water Governance and Management in India Issues and

Re Interrogating Civil Society in South Asia Critical

Worlds Apart Trading Together The organisation of long

Gopal P. Mahapatra Editor

ISSN 2662-5431 ISSN 2662-544X (electronic)

I also want to thank Ms. Amruta Londhe, my erstwhile Research Associate at

Using Online Learning to Develop Pandemic Readiness: The Case

About the Editor

Pragnya Acharya School of Human Resource Management, XIM University,

Debolina Dutta Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore, India

1 The VUCA Context

VUCA is a critical framework for understanding and appropriately addressing

the development of leadership agility and progressive people management function

2 India—An Emerging Economy

3 Case Methodology for Management Education

Case method is a pedagogical tool of active teaching which involves describing an

4 This Book—Purpose and Topics of Interest

5 Who is This Book For

This book is intended to be used by people in business, students, practitioners,

6 How the Book is Organized

– Growth and transformation of Gujarat Gas Ltd.—an OD and HRD perspec-

had to address several challenges. Reminiscing about this, he retrospected, “What

2.1 Birth of GGCL (Now GGL)

2.2 Acquisition by British Gas and Merger with GSPC

2.3 GGL Today

3 OD and HRD Interventions

3.1 Phase I: Era of Experimentation and Exploration

3.2 Phase II: Growth That Propelled Acquisition by British Gas

3.3 Phase III: Merger and Consolidation with GSPC Group

3.4 Challenges as a Combined Entity, GGL

1. The GGCL worked on a vertical structure with more specialized functions

6. Merging of HR or ERP systems, SOPs, and processes to leverage strengths.

4 Actions by the New Head HR

. Implementing digitalization for all business and HR processes, including

4.1 Final Interaction with the MD

. What is your brief perspective on culture and people management in Gujarat

5 Present Challenge Before Head HR and GGL HR Team

Three decades of GGL witnessed innovation, nurturing a culture of collaboration,

Annexure I: HRD Interventions

Phase 1: HRD and Management Interventions in the Early Years

1. HRD Audit: While the company started excelling as a pioneer, it proactively

2. Vision and Mission of Gujarat Gas: Senior Management believed in quality,

The integration of HR into organizational systems shaped a culture of system-

Phase II: HRD and OD Interventions (BG Group Acquired

. Employee engagement, Employee Satisfaction Surveys (ESS), and interven-

. Employee Communication, consolidation, retention, and redeployment

Employee satisfaction surveys showed concern about employee communication,

. Golden Handshake and Reinventing Performance Management System

GGCL’s management decided to go for the golden handshake scheme in 2003

. Strengthening relations with government and external stakeholders

Although GGCL was government-promoted, relationships with government agen-

It moved from a uniform, rigid organization to a more diverse one incorporating

. CEVA movement as a significant OD intervention

. CSR and skill development contribution to socioenvironmental awareness

Leadership change encouraged sustainability interventions shifting the focus from

Annexure II: Vision Statement and Core Values at GGCL