The Background
A leading global financial services company, which also had a presence in India through its holding in an Indian company, raised it to a majority stake. It also acquired the financial services business of another global company. Cerebrus was called in to facilitate the integration process in India.
The Task
The task had two major dimensions: one, integrating the people as a team in a scenario where each group was apprehensive about the other. The integration also involved creating the organisation structure for the new entity, establishing job positions, screening existing employees to fit appropriate positions and suggesting development plans. The second was creating integrated people policies including compensation, aligned with the global philosophy, and maintaining Indian market competitiveness in practices.
The Approach
We interacted with the principals in their overseas offices, and the top management in India, to understand their future plans - international and for India. We also went through individual meetings with all employees in both companies to understand their issues and concerns and understand the cultural differences.
Simultaneously, we worked on the organisation structure of the new entity. This was done as a zero base exercise, i.e. a new structure was created from scratch, based on the stated business plans. The existing people were then fitted into appropriate roles. This also entailed some people moving into new roles, while some were rendered surplus.
We also conducted and facilitated several workshops to enable better communication of future plans, the new culture and values etc., to make employees more comfortable, and to enable building teams. Several cross company functional teams were set up to review policies.
The compensation structure for the merged entity was created keeping in mind the global compensation philosophy, market figures and the proposed cost to the company. One company had a significantly lower compensation hisory, and the market correction was phased-in over a period of two years while increases in the other were appropriately lower.
The Result
As a result of the interaction, the organisation structure for the merged entity was geared towards its business plans. It also ensured an optimum match between the positions and the resources available. By redeploying people in new roles based on their skills, we could also minimize new recruitments and separations.
Constant interaction also resulted in people issues being aired and resolved on an ongoing basis. This reduced the friction that could have resulted had the issues festered.
The entity now functions as a fully integrated unit.
Facilitating Integration