IndianOil Reports

Subir Raha
Director (HR) & Director in-charge, InfoCom & CorpComm

New Delhi

May 25, 2001

Dear IndianOilPeople,

On 19th April, I completed 31 years with IndianOil. It was a long way from Management Trainee to Director of India’s only FortuneGlobal 500 Corporation; looking back today, the decades seem to have floated by.

I am leaving IndianOil for another PSU assignment. At this point of time, I’m overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude to all my teachers in IndianOil, from Fakira at Manmad to CR Dasgupta in New Delhi. They all trained me on the job, and passed on the spirit of IndianOil.

The spirit is that employment in IndianOil is not merely a source of livelihood. The pride in serving India unfailingly in war and peace. The commitment to ethics and integrity. The fellowship of professional managers. The joy of freedom to think. The activism of an MNC within the constraints of a PSU. The confidence in competence. The satisfaction of making beneficial change happen. The shelter of the IndianOil Family. And so much else.

Like so many others, I have had the good fortune to “live” IndianOil.

It was not roses all the way. Twice in my career, I had written out my resignation. The first time was a decade back, when I was passed over for a promotion, and then, deprived of work for several months. I felt then, and I know now, that these were unfair decisions. I went by the lesson in Iacocca’s book – don’t get mad, get even. The second time was more recent – a situation when official decorum, discipline, business interests and corporate image were being collectively, repetitively violated. Evidently, few colleagues – present and past - wanted to push me out of the way of their personal interests and ambitions. I tore up the resignation because I would not let IndianOil down by opting out in the face of adversity. Now, on the eve of my departure, I have been collectively accused, along with the Chairman, of “personal aggrandizement” in the business of IndianOil, in a suit filed before the Ahmedabad High Court. I will leave the matter to be judged.

But what really matters is the joy of being one of the IndianOilPeople. The tough times, and the shared laughter; the deprivations, and the wins; learning and teaching; the dreams and the achievements; the knowledge that like others, with others, I created value.

Today, we are at the threshold of fulfilling the Corporate Vision – an integrated, diversified, transnational energy provider with national leadership and commitment to community. In a matter of months, significant beginnings have been established in every identified area of growth. Oil & Gas is big business, and big business is not the arena for the faint-hearted. We must be clear in our strategic directions, and stay united, unwavering in our purpose. Either we create history, or we will become history.

Within, the HR agenda stands settled for all the constituencies – officers, workers and retirees. In each group, many of the benefits and processes available today would have been unimaginable three years back. You know it. Of course, expectations are endless. But the offerings must match the expectations. The complacence of job security and luxury of promotions for average performers may have to be given up, to advance to the stage of profit-sharing.

The ongoing deregulation brings in serious threats, and tremendous opportunities. Those who come second will get only the leftovers. IndianOilPeople can win. But, those who abuse their office by incompetence or indiscipline must be sent off the field so that the team does not lose out.

Away from IndianOil, I will always cherish your affection. Some of you would have felt hurt at times by my words or actions, but please believe me that it was never personal. Please accept my sincere regrets if you ever felt otherwise.

I will not be with you in the exciting times ahead. But every victory of IndianOilPeople will always let me re-live the spirit of IndianOil.

Mita joins me in wishing you and your family the best of luck. So long, and God bless you!

Jai Hind.

(Note: Fakira was an Operator at Manmad Depot where I went for field training as Senior Depot Manager in September-October 1970, and CR Dasgupta was Chairman, 1974-82).

IndianOil Reports: The case for relocation of Balasore Bottling Plant

In May 1985, I returned from Leeds. The class-room part of the mid-career MBA programme, followed by the written examinations, was over. I was entitled to five months’ paid leave to complete my dissertation. Nevertheless, I joined back on active duty to avoid missing out on a challenging career opportunity.

I had received my promotion orders in Leeds, with posting as Chief LPG Manager, Eastern Region. This was a Head of Department position, and I was the first in my batch of Management Trainees to get this. Moreover, LPG marketing was the ‘hot’ subject: on one hand, the market was being expanded at a furious pace and on the other hand, everyone from the Chairman downwards was deluged with customer complaints. Earlier in the year, it had been decided to carve out an independent LPG Department, integrating the relevant functions: sales, supply & distribution, accounting, operations & maintenance, systems, materials, customer service and safety. The HOD seat in the Eastern Region was kept open for my return but another five months’ absence would have led to someone else being posted. So instead of 150 days, I had 150 late evenings to research and write my dissertation.

Even now, LPG is not available for free sale in India. Besides water and electricity, LPG is the only product delivered into the customers’ premises. Unlike any other delivered product, LPG came in returnable containers. This posed a highly complicated challenge in operations, logistics, accounting and safety. The market expansion was driven by increasing production from refineries and fractionators, and the marketing companies are responsible from the delivery point of the production plant onwards. The first bottleneck was bulk transportation, and next came bottling (cylinder filling) capacity. The Union Government had approved a major plan to construct new bottling plants all over the country, and true to style, there were any number of progress reviews by people in the power structure, right up to the minister.

The plant at Balasore was delayed because of problems in land acquisition. Most of the land had been acquired but some owners were holding out, and these plots were scattered. I went down to the State capital, Bhuvaneswar, and met with the concerned Secretaries; they could not offer any ready solution. Studying the map, I discovered that the land earmarked for the plant falls within the municipal limits, next to a residential township.

Less than two years’ back in October 1983, the bottling plant at Shakurbasti, located within Delhi’s municipal area, had been devastated by an accidental fire; thousands of stored cylinders had exploded, spraying splinters all around. This happened early morning on a Sunday and consequently, there were few casualties. Walking around the site afterwards, I felt a drag on my feet as if I was walking on a sandy beach; looking down, I saw that all the stone chips used in the driveways were loose and shining bright because the asphalt had vaporized in the tremendous heat. The Prime Minister, Mrs. Gandhi had reportedly asked why such a hazardous facility had been constructed within municipal limits; the answer was that the municipality had expanded beyond the plant.

The Government appointed a committee chaired by R Vasudevan, Joint Secretary, to examine all issues on LPG safety. The committee’s report had been accepted as policy, and there was constant monitoring on implementation of each recommendation. One of the obvious recommendations was that no plant is to be built in municipal areas, and wherever necessary, existing plants were to be closed down and relocated away from residential areas.

Given this background, I decided on the spot to cancel the allotted site and requested for alternatives. The State officials promptly responded and offered a site several kilometers away from Balasore town, on the National Highway. I agreed, and formal documentation was initiated. Travelling back by the night train, I felt satisfied with a good job done.

Next morning, it was a different story in the office. My boss, the Regional Manager, had already come to know that instead of sorting out the problems related to the allotted site, I had gone and selected a new site altogether. Obviously, the project would be further delayed. I argued that the project was getting delayed at the allotted site, and in any case, it was an unsafe site by the standards set by the Vasudevan Committee. This added fuel to the fire because the earlier site was selected by a team of my peers from the Region and the Head Office, and they did not take kindly to my observation. The Regional Manager was smart enough not to take sides on a dispute involving safety, and washed his hands off by reporting to the Head Office that the plant was going to be delayed because of the decision taken unilaterally by the HOD.

After a week or so, there was a message from the Head Office asking me to attend the next review meeting chaired by the Minister and explain my decision. So I went to New Delhi, entered Shastri Bhavan for the first time, and knocked on the door of the concerned Joint Secretary, Arvind Varma who looked at me with undisguised sympathy! The Head Office team was present in full force, led by the big boss, Director (Marketing); none of them would look me in the eye or smile while saying good morning.

The time came and we all trooped into the Minister’s office. There was no seat for me in the IOC corner (this was a review of all the marketing companies), and I grabbed a chair elsewhere. Balasore was the first item on the agenda. The minister looked at the IOC team and asked: what’s this problem at Belasur? He was told that the concerned officer would personally explain the reason for additional delay.

I explained. No interruption, no interjection. Silence. The Minister looked at the Secretary, GV Ramkrishna who said that I had done the right thing. The Minister said that he also thought so. Instantly, my bosses vied with each other to tell the Minister that they had always thought so. I sat through the rest of the meeting, had tea, thanked the Secretary and walked out, alone.

IndianOil Reports: Conclaves

Let’s say that 2% of the retirees had worked in general management cadre – Dy. GM and above – for average 5 years, and that 20,000 employees had retired over 40 years. Let’s also say that out of the possible 2000 man-years of knowledge and experience in general management, 50% is lost due to death or relocation or employment with competitors. That still leaves an asset of 1000 man-years locked up among the retirees. This one asset is ignored by almost all organizations. The successors feel that the predecessors ‘had their day’, and the predecessors feel that the successors are ‘messing up things’. Often, the successors have genuine or imagined grievances against the predecessors.

After becoming Director (HR) in IndianOil, I had taken out the dossier of my annual performance appraisals from the closely guarded corporate archive. I did have a doubt if this was quite ethical, because people who wrote the confidential appraisals would not have imagined that someday I would have access to these reports. But I had not forgotten the distress of unfair treatment in moving from Dy.GM to GM rank over two long years, and curiosity won.

The dossier had been managed efficiently: every appraisal from end of probation as a Management Trainee in 1972 to the last one as Executive Director in 1997 was neatly filed in chronological order. I took the dossier home and took my time in reading each one. The pleasant surprise was to find so many seniors so far away had written so many good things. The negative comments were from two seniors. One of them preached free and fearless debate but had always made it clear that my argumentative habit was not appreciated. The shock was the venom poured out by the other one, year after year. He was my ‘controlling officer’ for several tenures and always gave the impression of standing up for me. I still remember one comment: ‘The officer did not perform any useful work during this period’. That was for the time I was writing my MBA dissertation and simultaneously, building and managing a new integrated department. Some of the ideas from my dissertation and some of the innovations in the new department continue as standards in IndianOil, even in the Industry to this day! With that savage remark, he gave me a low ‘rating’ – the only time in twenty-six years. If confirmed, that rating would have irretrievably damaged my career progression and he, of course, wanted it that way. I still do not know why he was so vicious in the confidential appraisal while giving the opposite impression in all our interactions. Be that as it may, my next controlling officer with whom I was interacting for the first time, questioned the appraisal and ensured that the rating was revised to the top level; I knew nothing of this intervention till I read the dossier and he (the next controlling officer) had never told me anything about salvaging my career.

Coming back, I had a clean slate in ONGC as far as personal equations were concerned. I needed to ‘get under the skin’ of this complex entity. I also felt the need to supplement the competencies in the Board with accumulated knowledge and experience of the veterans, something like an oral history process. I decided to invite all surviving whole-time members of the erstwhile Commission and the ONGC Board to an annual retreat: the ONGC Conclave. The process would be to get the members of the Conclave to debate the corporate plans and problems presented by the serving Directors.

This did create serious discomfort across the generations but evolved as a fabulously successful Knowledge Management (KM) exercise!