Human Resources

RIGHT MAN, WORNG JOB?

Deewankar Hansa studied the calm face of Amit Roy, who has just told him “I have decided to resign from XANites.” He had been expecting this; the symptoms had been surfacing for sometime now, the reasons had become apparent, yet, now he wondered where his firm, Catalyst Solutions, had gone wrong. Eight months ago, Deewankar Hansa had placed Amit Roy at XANites as Business Head, next in command to the Country Head, Dave Daughty. Netting Amit Roy for that job had not been easy, but Dave was adamant. “He is just the kind of person we need to turn around our fortunes. Whatever be his terms, just hire him for me.”

Deewankar Hansa could understand Dave’s urgency. At XANites, India was on the top priority for outsourcing the call center operations. With the changed economic scenario of the 90s, competition brought XAnites to its knees. More than the declining profits, the company recognized that it was not seen as the best employer and that it was not able to attract bright talent.

Dave was clear he was hiring his Business Head from India. “We do have all kind of skill, but we need somebody who understands India,” he told Deewankar Hansa, the vice-President at Catalyst Solutions. “Then again, the standards and benchmarks that we have been operating with all these years can be put in place here as well. It would be far wiser to hire ready-to-use skill from outside, especially when we are starting operations in India. We need to set in a local force with parent systems and procedure and that can happen only it we have the right man to navigate. A person who is focused who is focused on the customers and cost.

It was clear to Deewankar Hansa that Dave’s priority was overseas operations in India for competitive advantage of reduced cost. Naturally, Catalyst Solutions derived its brief for the candidate search and the required business competencies, from company’s objectives.

Amit Roy’s 18 years’ long experience had been in professionally run...