CASE ANALYSIS

People Management Singhania & Partners

Group D1 Ankit Agarwal Kausik.R Meenu Rajpal Pramod Khandelwal Syed Reza Salis N
aqvi

Objective of the Analysis

1. How can Singhania and Partners sustain the effectiveness of people management
policies with increasing competition? I think the CEO is worried about what the
y pay rather than the HR policies per se. Be more specific

PESTC Analysis
Political and Legal:
Economic liberalization by the government of India. LPG (liberalization, privat
zation and globalization) by GOI gave a fillip to foreign investment and subsequ
ently, legal services industry. Foreign law firms are not allowed to set shops i
n India or practice Indian law. Imminent liberalization of legal service industr
y which will increase competition. Law firms were prohibited to directly market
their services. Legal system was very slow.

Economic:
High growth market for legal services. Availability of highly skill
capital at competitive prices. Growth of LPO (legal process outsourcing) industr
y providing a boost to legal services. Huge market for legal services in the US
accounting for 49% of the global industry. Arbitration opportunities in India pr
ovided a market for legal services. Growth in the IT and infrastructure sector g
iving a fillip to legal services.
Social:
Lack of educational and vocational opportunities for the people to develop their
career in legal services industry.

Inclination of people to make out-of-court settlement due to extended nature of

court cases.

Technological:
Use of efficient and state-of-the art system and processes to increase effective
ness of services to clients. Manual load on the people were reduced with new tec
hnological systems. Use of modern technology increased the effectiveness of thei
r people and hence, productivity.
Cultural
Open door policy for the employees
all hierarchical levels. System of performance and reward was given prime impor
tance. Transparent culture was practiced. Work-life balance was promoted which w
ill find resonance with people. System of appropriate feedback and reward commen
surate to their performance. In-sync with the changes taking place in the indust
ry.
S.W.O.T Analysis
Legal Service Industry

Strength
High growth potential for the existing and potential players. Demand fo
r customized services in legal industry. High growth of LPO sector due to high c
ost in western economies. Slow legal system ensured arbitration opportunities an
d thus, increasing the scope for legal services Liberalization and entry of mult
inationals increased the demand for legal services

Weakness
Paucity of talent in the legal industry. High attrition rate. Lot
notonous work that resulted in de-motivation of people towards their work. Incre
ased competition for the challenging and high growth projects. Law firms were pr
ohibited from directly marketing their services. Practice of Indian law restrict
ed to Indian nationals. Prohibition of multinational firms to operate in Indian
legal industry.

Opportunities
Threats
China and Korea had liberalized their legal service
try. Shortage of skilled labour specializing in legal services. Increased compet
ition will reduce the cost advantage. New domains like IT and infrastructure to
provide a fillip and growth. Growth for legal services support in western econom
ies. Huge market for legal services in US. Technological innovation will increas
e the scope for legal services.
Singhania and Partners

Strength
Highly people oriented. Promotes work-life balance at the workplace. Pe
ople are appraised and rewarded on a continuous basis for their performance. Cha
llenging and stimulating work environment for the employees. Open door policy an
d transparent culture.

Continuous feedback mechanisms for employees. Environment of growth and stress-f

ree work culture. Good clientele and hence the ability to receive work through r
eferrals. Strong commitment towards the client and producing quality work. ISO c
ertification for the systems and processes. Knowledge of various cross-functiona
l domains in legal parlance. Employee commitment towards the organization Contin
uous evaluation of potential legal service markets to increase firms standing. Or
ganization culture was sociable. Efficient system and process to increase the ef
fectiveness of the work.

Weakness
People were given free hand in their work and there was no supervision.
Less inclination to capitalize the LPO market and as a result may lose out impo
rtant clients and the other potential work from them. All the decisions for allo
cation for different projects were vetted by Mohotra.

Opportunities
Threats
Paucity of skilled labour and thus poaching of em
y the competitors. Imminent entry of foreign law firms in India. Increased compe
tition from existing law firms. Potential clients in the LPO sector and its huge
growth potential. Growing market potential for the legal service industry in do
mains like mergers and acquisitions, technology transfers etc. Technological inn
ovation increasing scope for legal services Growth in Infrastructure provides a
fillip to legal services. People were loaded with too much work by the firms in
legal service industry.

List of Factors
1. 3 Rs of effective Performance management system (PMS) a. Recruitment and selec
tion. b. Reward c. Retention 2. Individual Motivation at Work. 3. Organizational
Culture. 4. Commitment and job satisfaction. 5. Managing group and team work. 6
. Personality and behavior at work. 7. Performance Management 8. Work environmen
t.
Exceptionally well handled. Critical factors
Analysis of factors
1. 3 Rs of effective PMS:
Human resource is one of the competitive advantages for
any organization. An effective people management system revolves round three Rs
of recruitment, reward and retention. Understanding people in an organization is
of prime importance for any successful organization.
Recruitment and Selection
should be design in such a manner that employees who are skilled, hard-working a
nd committed to the growth of the organization are selected. Further people shou
ld be judged on basis of culture fit and job fit. Recruitment procedures and exp
ectations from employees should be clearly stated beforehand.
Rewarding people b
ased on their performance helps in employee motivation and gives an impetus to w
ork further with same zeal. Rewards and performance based compensation satisfies
the Esteem needs of employees as mentioned by Maslows Hierarchy theory. Are they
doing it. Evaluate. Mere theory does not make analysis. Using theory you have t
o say that it is adhered or violoated

Retention, of talented employees is an important aspect of people management. Th

e work culture and environment should be shaped in such a manner that a stable w
ork life balance is maintained. Challenging and stimulating cases in the experti
se domain of the employee should be provided so as to keep him enthusiastic of w
ork. Garnering effective employee participation in day to day work of organizati
on gives a sense of loyalty and OCB in the employee, thereby feeling a part of t
he organization employee looks for long term relationship with the organization.
2. Individual Motivation at work:
Hertzbergs two factor model states that individ
ual motivation is shaped by external factors such as Hygiene, working conditions
and environment at work. Above model supports the efficient People management p
olicy at Singhania and Partner Comfort, Privacy, state of art facilities were ta
ken care of. Alderfers ERG Model emphasizes on existence, relatedness, and growth
, wherein relatedness helps in satisfying social needs. A job which is intellect
ually stimulating if supported by sufficient learning and growth opportunities h
elps in satisfaction of self actualization needs.
Individual Motivation at work
is also shaped in accordance to the Equity Theory. Employees at Singhania and Pa
rtners were aptly rewarded based on performance and thus, equity at work was pro
moted.
3. Organizational Culture : Strong hierarchy, personalized relationships are fea
tures of a strong organizational culture which is an ingredient for strong peopl
e management policy. For instance there was open door culture at Singhania and P
artners, top management was easily approachable and open to discussion.
Employee
s should be encouraged to focus the suitability of the values to organizations su
rvival and growth, rather than rigidly focusing on values as ends in themselves.

A
t
a
s

sense of belongingness and relatedness, among employees ensures satisfaction a

work and they feel they are an important part of the organization. At Singhani
and Partners every lawyer got chance to present topics on diverse legal aspect
during bi-weekly meetings.

Individuals differ in their values and skills, so the organizational culture sho
uld be such that every employee is treated accordingly. Team work and group mana
gement are an important factor for success of an organization. Group communicati
on strengthens the bonding among employees and improves transparency within the
organization. Singhania and Partners laid emphasis on employee satisfaction by o
rganizing excursions and tours every year.
4. Performance Management :
Having an efficient performance management system is
core to any successful people management policy. An Employee aptly rewarded for
the work and effort generates positive affectivity which in turn results in opt
imism, enthusiasm, overall well being, job satisfaction etc. Self efficacy and s
elf esteem gets a boost due to effective performance management system.
Your factors are good, theoretical framework not too bad, but a little weak but
you should say whether it is happening or not? Constraints Ensure the competitiv
eness of Singhania and Partners in the legal services industry.
Singhania and Pa
rtners should be the best place to work in the legal service industry (rethink.
Are they restricting your options in any way or should they be doing it anyway?
Options
1) Redesign the reward policy:

Owing to the global challenge Singhania and partner should look at redesigning t
heir employee reward system if required. Current system was less stable as in th
e individuals who contributed and added values to the organization were rewarded
with pay hikes and bonuses irrespective of their stay at the organization. This
made an impact on equity belief of existing employees of the firm. Thus, the cu
lture and environment within the organization became highly competitive. Advanta
ges: o Redesigning reward policies helps in gaining a competitive edge in the ma
rket. o Generates interest of employees and keeps them motivated for long term a
ssociation. Disadvantages: o May effect the company operation and capital struct
ure. o People believe in equity theory, comparison within the industry among dif
ferent firms may impact negatively o Requires complete change and overhauling of
existing Hr practices and policies at corporate level. o Market conditions and
culture may not be in accordance with the new system.
2) Implement new methods of employee motivation:
Employee motivation comes as an important aspect in having a high class people m
anagement system. The policies and procedures in the organization should be such
that they could not be easily imitated by any other organization, be it in term
s of work environment or compensation scheme, job nature etc. A periodic feedbac
k system to evaluate managers and rate them, rating of HR practices within organ
ization, feedback on Job satisfaction, work life balance imbues the feeling that
organization is caring and the place is best place to work. Owing to such acts
an employee is obliged to work hard diligently. Advantages:

o Employees become highly productive and efficient. o Overall success and profit
of organization. o Motivated employee is a source of competitive advantages in
legal service industry. Disadvantages: o Excessive experimenting may put limited
resources of the organization under strain. o Motivation schemes if not equitab
ly applied across the organization may result in de-motivation of other employee
s.
3) Retention schemes:
Retention policies and systems followed in an organization are core to the HR po
licies. Different firms follow different methods to retain talented and valued e
mployees of the organization. Retention by giving shares of the companies, promo
tions, putting employees in areas of choice, giving enough freedom to voice out
opinions and have a say in day to day working gives a feeling of Commitment and
loyalty and hence helps in developing a long term relationship between employee
and the organization. Advantages o Commitment towards the organization o Improve
d performance and productivity
Disadvantages o Put strain on the companys balance sheet and resources. o People
will be accustomed to such rewards every time and expectations may increase.

Recommended solution
The option that Singhania and partner should implement is to have a redesigned r
etention policy. Rewards should be paid based on consistency and not on single p
erformance. This will help retain old employees who have consistently contribute
d to the organization. Award should also be constituted to reward employees base
d on years of service to the organization.
Action Plan
1. Compensation should be based on years of service e:g if you serve 2 years you
will get a bonus of Rs50, 000 at the end of 3 years a sum of 80000 will be prov
ided and so on. 2. Employees should feel a part of the organization and this cou
ld be ensured by having their say in the management and operations. 3. Evolve a
feedback system where people could express their feelings and experiences of wor
king with organization. 4. Retention could be also catered to by giving loans an
d stock options of the firm. People appreciate such good wills. 5. Opportunities
could be given to employees for going abroad and gain experience of global lega
l domain to increase learning. 6. Give family tour trips to maintain work life b
alance. Is compensation the only issue?
References: 1. Asia Case Research Centre Case: People management the mantra for
success.