Understanding Performance Challenges in Indian Companies: How Do They Adapt and Thrive?

Performance Landscape in India

In India, the performance landscape is diverse and dynamic, influenced by various factors such as economic conditions, industry trends, and cultural nuances. Understanding the performance climate in India requires a nuanced approach, considering the unique challenges and opportunities present in the country. Organizations operating in India need to adapt their performance management strategies to align with the local context and leverage the strengths of the workforce. By embracing this complexity and fostering a performance-driven culture, businesses can thrive in the ever-evolving Indian market.

Typical Indian Sethia Co. attitude and not spending on talent development, training, and poor HR have slowed the progress of many companies. Their performance may only be seen in the balance sheet, but a good corporate culture and people management are still lacking.

Buttering is okay. However, we are facing a SERIOUS problem. Managers and above are demanding buttering from their team members in a particular MNC company in India. They are directly, in a bold and brash way, threatening their team to be part of their group/gang or face dire consequences during appraisals. Some managers have already shown their colors and have dismissed some of their team members who don't know/intend to butter up in this major IT MNC. Worse still, this company is projecting itself as a HIGH-PERFORMANCE organization.

I, as an HR manager (HR being the support function), am not able to understand how to stem this rot. The problem lies with senior managers, and these individuals are from very reputed institutions (IIT, IIMs).

I think we are more self-critical here than we probably should be. Like anywhere in the world (after having worked at the global level for many years), there is a range of employers. I believe Indian corporations are in no way behind other organizations, given the cultural context in which we operate. It all depends on the leader of the organization. If the leader wants a performance culture, then it gets built into the DNA of the organization, and we have a highly performing culture.